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THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 
DAMON  DALRYMPLE 


THE  MANTLE  OF 
ELIJAH 

A  LITTLE  TALK  BETWEEN  TWO  PROPHETS 

WHO  ARE  ABOUT  TO  PART, 

ONE  TO  HIS  WORK,  THE  OTHER  TO  HIS  REWARD 

/BY 

DAMON  DALRYMPLE 


Near  enough  to  the  end  of  the  journey 

to  see  the  distant  hills. 
And  yet  not  far  enough  from  the  beginning 

to  have  forgotten  the  lure  of  the  road* 


NEW  XSr^  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,   1921, 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  THE  OLD  STORY 9 

II  THE   PASSING   PROPHET 13 

III  THE    FALLING   MANTLE .  20 

IV  THE   CHANGING  EARTH 29 

V  THE  TWO   COMMANDMENTS 43 

VI  ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE 49 

VII  A  SEEING  EYE           ;^      .       .       .  6o 

VIII  AN  OPEN   MIND ^0 

IX  AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART   .       .       .       .      ^      W ^7 

X  THE  WILL  TO  RECEIVE lOO 

XI  THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE Io8 

XII  DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS [%••••  1^4 


THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 


THE  MANTLE   OF   ELIJAH 


CHAPTER   I 


THE  OLD  STORY 


"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  Lord  would  take  up 
Elijah  into  heaven  by  a  whirlwind,  that  Elijah  went 
with  Elisha  to  Gilgal,  And  Elijah  said  unto  Elisha, 
Tarry  here,  I  pray  thee;  for  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  to 
Bethel.  And  Elisha  said  unto  him,  As  the  Lord  liveth, 
and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will  not  leave  thee.  So  they 
went  down  to  Bethel. 

"And  the  sons  of  the  prophets  that  were  at  Bethel 
came  forth  to  Elisha,  and  said  unto  him,  Knowest  thou 
that  the  Lord  will  take  away  thy  master  from  thy  head 
to-day?  And  he  said.  Yea,  I  know  it;  hold  ye  your 
peace.  And  Elijah  said  unto  him,  Elisha,  tarry  here, 
I  pray  thee;  for  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  to  Jericho.  And 
he  said.  As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will 
not  leave  thee.    So  they  came  to  Jericho. 

"And  the  sons  of  the  prophets  that  were  at  Jericho 
came  to  Elisha,  and  said  unto  him,  Knowest  thou  that 
the  Lord  will  take  away  thy  master  from  thy  head  to- 
day? And  he  answered.  Yea,  I  know  it;  hold  ye  your 
peace.  And  Elijah  said  unto  him.  Tarry,  I  pray  thee, 
here ;  for  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  to  Jordan.    And  he  said, 

9 


10  THE  IVIANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will  not 
leave  thee.    And  they  two  went  on. 

"And  fifty  men  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets  went,  and 
stood  to  view  afar  off :  and  they  two  stood  by  Jordan. 

"And  Elijah  took  his  mantle,  and  wrapped  it  together, 
and  smote  the  waters,  and  they  were  divided  hither  and 
thither,  so  that  they  two  went  over  on  dry  ground.  And 
it  came  to  pass,  when  they  were  gone  over,  that  Elijah 
said  unto  Elisha,  Ask  what  I  shall  do  for  thee  before  I 
be  taken  from  thee.  And  Elisha  said,  I  pray  thee,  let  a 
double  portion  of  thy  spirit  be  upon  me.  And  he  said, 
Thou  hast  asked  a  hard  thing:  nevertheless,  if  thou  see 
me  when  I  am  taken  from  thee,  it  shall  be  so  unto  thee ; 
but  if  not,  it  shall  not  be  so.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as 
they  still  went  on,  and  talked,  that,  behold,  there  ap- 
peared a  chariot  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire,  and  parted 
them  both  asunder;  and  Elijah  went  up  by  a  whirlwind 
into  heaven.  And  Elisha  saw  it,  and  he  cried.  My  father, 
my  father !  the  chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof. 
And  he  saw  him  no  more :  and  he  took  hold  of  his  own 
clothes,  and  rent  them  in  two  pieces.  He  took  up  also 
the  mantle  of  Elijah  that  fell  from  him,  and  went  back, 
and  stood  by  the  bank  of  Jordan. 

"And  he  took  the  mantle  of  Elijah  that  fell  from  him, 
and  smote  the  waters,  and  said.  Where  is  the  Lord  God  of 
Elijah?  And  when  he  also  had  smitten  the  waters,  they 
parted  hither  and  thither;  and  Elisha  went  over.  And 
when  the  sons  of  the  prophets  that  were  to  view  at 
Jericho  saw  him,  they  said.  The  spirit  of  Elijah  doth 
rest  on  Elisha.  And  they  came  to  meet  him,  and  bowed 
themselves  to  the  ground  before  him." 

So  runs  the  old  story,  of  the  close  of  one  life  and  the 
beginning  of  another;  and  it  is  running  yet,  out  of  the 


THE  OLD  STORY  11 

past  up  to  the  present,  and  on  into  the  future,  wherever 
one  man  leaves  off  and  another  begins.  One  generation 
passeth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh;  but  the 
word  of  God  abideth  forever,  and  runneth  where  it  will. 
Sometimes  one  prophet  is  gone  before  the  other  ap- 
pears, and  there  is  an  interval  between  them,  as  in  the 
case  of  Moses  and  Samuel,  when  the  voice  of  prophecy 
is  intermittent.  Sometimes  one  follows  hard  upon  the 
heels  of  the  other,  taking  the  word  of  the  Lord  directly 
from  his  lips,  as  in  the  case  of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  when 
the  voice  of  prophecy  is  continuous.  And  sometimes  their 
lives  overlap  a  few  years,  and  two  voices  are  heard  in  the 
land  at  one  and  the  same  time,  as  in  the  case  of  Jesus 
and  John,  when  the  voice  of  prophecy  is  contemporane- 
ous^ 


CHAPTER    II 


THE  PASSING  PROPHET 


We  have  come  together  as  far  as  we  may,  EHsha. 
You  must  go  back,  I  must  go  on.  My  Hfe  is  behind  me, 
yours  is  before  you,  all  unlived  and  your  work  undone. 
Whither  I  go  you  cannot  come  now.  Some  time,  when 
your  work  is  done  and  the  last  word  is  spoken;  but  not 
now.  Work  before  rest,  and  service  before  reward. 
God  walks  in  his  garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day  to  meet 
those  who  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day's 
work. 

The  chariot  of  fire  has  come  for  me,  Elisha,  and  for 
me  alone.  One  by  one  we  come,  and  one  by  one  we  go. 
The  way  into  life  is  strait  and  narrow,  and  the  way  out 
of  it  is  the  same.  Two  cannot  walk  together.  Here 
we  leave  all  behind.  Two  men  are  ploughing  in  the  field ; 
one  is  taken,  and  the  other  left.  Two  women  are  grind- 
ing at  the  mill;  one  is  taken,  and  the  other  left.  Two 
prophets  are  walking  in  the  way;  one  is  taken,  and  the 
other  left.  It  has  been  so  from  the  beginning,  it  will 
be  so  to  the  end.  We  look  up  from  our  work,  and  see 
two  there — two  men  at  their  task,  two  children  at  their 
play ;  and  when  we  look  up  again,  there  is  only  one.  The 
other  is  gone.  Where?  We  may  not  know.  We  only 
know  it  is  not  there  any  more.  The  wind  has  passed 
over  it,  and  it  is  gone,  and  the  place  thereof  shall  know 
it  no  more  forever. 

12 


THE  PASSING  PROPHET  13 

The  wind  is  passing  over  me,  Elisha.  I  feel  it  through 
all  my  frame.  It  has  blown  about  me  all  these  years, 
fanning  my  face,  chafing  my  cheek,  cooling  my  blood;  it 
is  passing  over  me  now,  and  it  will  soon  lay  me  low.  I 
have  counted  the  years,  and  the  months,  and  the  days; 
I  am  counting  the  hours  now,  Elisha,  and  they  are  few. 
I  do  not  fear  it,  or  shrink  from  it.  It  is  God's  wind, 
that  bloweth  where  it  will,  bringing  us  into  the  world 
to-day,  and  carrying  us  out  of  it  to-morrow.  Some  com- 
plain that  it  brings  them  in,  others  that  it  takes  them  out. 
I  complain  of  neither.  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
taketh  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Life  has 
been  good  here,  and  I  am  sure  it  will  be  better  hereafter. 
God's  world  is  not  two,  but  one.  Everywhere  it  is  made 
of  the  same  stuff,  and  behaves  in  the  same  manner.  We 
are  the  same  men  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan  that  we 
are  on  this  side.  And  so  with  this  other  river  to  which  I 
am  coming.  I  shall  suffer  no  change  in  the  crossing.  I 
shall  know  myself,  and  others  shall  know  me.  This  place 
which  has  known  me,  and  which  I  have  known,  shall  soon 
know  me  no  more.  You  will  seek  me,  Elisha,  but  you  will 
not  find  me.  You  will  call,  but  I  shall  not  answer.  You 
will  reach  out  empty  hands,  only  to  meet  empty  air.  But 
other  places  shall  know  me,  and  I  shall  know  other  places ; 
perhaps  not  in  the  same  way  I  have  known  these,  but  in 
some  way.  In  our  Father's  house  are  many  rooms,  but 
they  are  all  under  one  roof.;  We  pass  from  one  room  to 
another,  from  a  lower  to  an  upper,  from  a  seen  to  an  un- 
seen ;  but  we  do  not  pass  out  of  the  house. 

I  have  loved  this  world,  and  right  gladly  have  I  lived 
in  it.  I  have  heard  complaint  of  it  on  every  hand,  but  I 
have  none  to  make.  It  is  God's  good  green  earth.  He 
made  it,  and  no  work  of  His  hands  can  be  but  good.    It 


14  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

looked  good  to  Him  the  first  day  He  saw  it,  and  so  it  has 
looked  to  me,  and  never  more  so  than  now  when  I  look 
upon  it  for  the  last  time.  Be  not  deceived,  Elisha,  by 
those  who  cry  down  mother  earth.  There  is  nothing 
wrong  with  the  house  we  live  in.  It  is  the  people  in  it, 
and  even  they  are  not  as  black  as  they  are  painted. 
Things  can  do  no  wrong,  but  the  king  can,  and  so  can 
the  peasant.  Earth  and  sea  and  sky  are  neither  good 
nor  bad.  They  are  neutral.  It  is  the  hands  that  handle 
them,  the  eyes  that  look  upon  them.  When  you  begin 
to  see  serpents  in  the  tendrils  o£  vines,  and  fire  and 
brimstone  in  autumn  woods;  when  the  songs  of  birds 
lose  their  gladness,  and  the  laughter  goes  out  of  running 
water;  don't  go  off  under  a  juniper  tree  and  despair  of 
God's  world.  Go  and  see  a  doctor.  In  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  you  will  find  that  it  is  not  the  world  that  is  out  of 
joint,  but  your  liver  that  is  out  of  fix.  I  know  whereof 
I  speak,  Elisha.  I  thought  once  that  the  good  people 
were  all  dead,  and  that  I  alone  was  left  to  tell  the  story; 
but  I  was  mistaken.  There  were  seven  thousand  in 
Israel  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  God  was 
still  in  His  Heaven,  and  all  was  well  with  His  world.  It 
was  only  a  passing  cloud,  the  size  of  a  woman's  hand, 
between  me  and  the  sun. 

Not  that  there  is  no  evil  in  the  world.  Elisha.  There 
is.  No  man  with  two  good  eyes  can  deny  it.  How  it 
came  to  be  here,  or  what  it  is  doing  here  in  God's  world, 
we  may  not  know.  We  only  know  it  is  here,  the  one  dark 
blot  upon  an  otherwise  beautiful  world.  The  origin 
of  evil  no  one  knows,  and  the  reason  of  it  no  one  can 
explain,  but  its  presence  no  sane  man  can  ignore.  Only 
don't  mistake  where  the  evil  is,  Elisha.  It  is  in  the  world, 
but  not  of  it;  a  part  of  life,  but  not  necessary  to  it. 


THE  PASSING  PROPHET  15 

Life  can  be  awfully  sweet  at  best,  and  it  can  be  most 
awfully  bitter  at  worst — as  sweet  as  heaven,  as  bitter 
as  hell;  but  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  comes  from 
without  us.  Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life, 
and  from  the  same  fountain  flow  sweet  waters  and  bitter. 
It  is  sin  that  is  the  sting-  of  life,  and  the  sting  of  death, 
and  the  sting  of  everything  else  between  life  and  death; 
and  sin  is  a  human  thing.  Never  forget  that,  Elisha, 
the  longest  day  you  live,  lest  haply  you  be  found  fight- 
ing windmills  when  you  ought  to  be  fighting  the  devil. 
Did  you  ever  stop  to  consider  how  much  uncalled-for 
goodness  there  is  in  the  world,  Elisha,  how  much  un- 
necessary beauty  in  the  course  of  nature?  Bare  existence 
would  be  possible  without  it.  It  is  not  essential  to  the 
natural  order,  so  far  as  we  can  see.  I  see  no  reason  why 
the  sun  could  not  rise  and  set  without  all  this  glory  on 
sea  and  land,  without  so  much  colour  in  morning  and 
evening  skies;  why  the  trees  could  not  put  forth  their 
leaves,  and  bear  their  fruit,  without  the  smell  of  heather 
or  the  fragrance  of  apple  blossoms;  why  the  birds  could 
not  meet  and  mate,  build  their  nests  and  rear  their  young, 
without  flooding  the  woods  with  song;  why  the  seasons 
could  not  come  and  go,  spring  and  autumn,  winter  and 
summer,  without  spreading  the  earth  with  flowers  or 
setting  the  woods  on  fire  with  color.  Look  at  those  but- 
terflies there,  Elisha.  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not 
arrayed  like  one  of  them.  Why  are  they  clad  in  such 
gorgeous  apparel  ?  They  could  fly  just  as  well  with  dull, 
drab  wings.  Why  such  painstaking  care  to  fashion  wings 
that  perish  over  night,  to  paint  leaves  which  last  only 
for  a  summer?  Why  all  these  master  strokes  of  colour 
across  the  sky,  which  fade  while  you  are  looking  at 
them?    Why  all  these  burning  bushes  and  flaming  skies, 


16  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

all  this  beauty  and  blossom  and  song  ?  It  is  but  the  extra 
goodness  which  God  throws  in  along  with  our  daily 
bread.  Mr.  Gradgrind  would  grant  us  only  the  bare 
facts  of  life,  but  not  so  our  heavenly  Father.  He  throws 
over  them  the  blue  haze  of  Indian  summer,  and  the  ro- 
mance of  youth,  and  the  glory  of  high  adventure. 

It  all  happens  honestly,  to  be  sure,  and  without  violence 
to  the  natural  order.  The  world  is  just  built  that  way. 
But  why  is  it  built  that  way?  Because  God  is  good,  and 
delights  to  bestow  good  things  upon  His  children.  And 
He  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  The  blue  sky  bends  with 
the  same  infinite  tenderness  over  both  saint  and  sinner, 
and  the  sun  shines  alike  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust. 
He  looks  with  equal  eyes  upon  all  His  children,  though 
not  with  equal  feelings.  He  is  glad  of  some,  and  sad 
of  others,  but  good  to  all. 

Never  has  this  old  earth  looked  more  fair  to  me  than 
now,  with  the  light  of  the  setting  sun  upon  it.  It  has  put 
on  its  wedding  garments  to  see  me  off.  How  grandly 
Tabor  stands  out  there  against  the  sky,  with  a  golden 
mantle  over  his  huge  shoulders ;  and  those  oaks  of  Bashan 
yonder  on  the  hilltop,  stretching  out  their  gaunt  arms  as 
if  imploring  me  not  to  leave  them;  and  the  Jordan  here, 
running  away  to  the  sea,  and  the  purple  Judean  hills  on 
the  other  side.  How  softly  the  west  wind  caresses  my 
cheek.  It  comes  from  the  distant  sea,  embracing  in  its 
wide  sweep  the  roses  of  Sharon  and  the  cedars  of  Leb- 
anon. On  the  uplands  of  Gilead,  the  shepherds  are  lead- 
ing home  their  sheep,  and  the  women  are  bringing  water 
from  the  well.  These  hills  have  been  home  to  me,  and 
shelter  from  the  heat  of  summer  and  the  hate  of  man. 
It  is  hard  to  think  that  these  eyes  shall  never  look  upon 
all  this  again,  that  these  ears  shall  hear  no  more  the  low- 


THE  PASSING  PROPHET  17 

ing  of  cattle  at  evening  and  the  laughter  of  children  at 
their  play.  I  would  be  loath  to  leave  this  world,  Elisha, 
if  I  did  not  believe  in  another,  where  we  can  have  roses 
without  thorns,  the  knowledge  of  good  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  evil,  the  presence  of  God  without  the  sting  of  sin. 
When  I  look  upon  this  wide  arena  which  I  am  leaving, 
the  sweep  of  these  mountains  and  the  swell  of  these 
deserts,  where  the  earth  meets  the  sky  in  rolling  lines 
at  great  distances,  where  caravans  come  and  go  from  one 
end  of  the  earth  to  the  other  and  kingdoms  rise  and  fall 
like  autumn  leaves;  Avhen  I  think  of  all  the  chances  which 
come  to  men  here  of  lofty  emprise  and  heroic  endeavour, 
I  almost  envy  you  the  years  which  are  before  you,  Elisha. 
Those  which  are  behind  me  have  been  good,  but  those 
which  are  before  you  will  be  better.  The  boundaries  of 
life  are  so  far  flung,  and  its  carrying  power  so  immeas- 
urable. The  field  is  the  world,  and  it  is  so  wide ;  the  soil 
is  our  human  life,  and  it  is  so  fertile;  the  seed  is  the  word 
of  God,  and  it  brings  forth  so  abundantly.  We  cast  our 
bread  upon  waters  whose  waves  wash  all  shores.  And 
there  is  so  much  of  life  and  work  yet  in  me.  My  eye  is 
not  dimmed,  nor  my  natural  strength  abated^  I  don't 
feel  a  day  older  than  I  did  two  score  years  ago.  My  body 
is  old,  but  I  am  not.  I  am  sorry  to  leave  it  behind.  I 
have  been  at  home  in  it,  and  it  has  housed  me  comfort- 
ably all  these  years ;  but  perhaps  it  would  only  be  in  the 
way  whither  I  go.  I  do  not  know.  Whether  I  shall  have 
it  back,  or  another,  I  know  not.  God  shall  give  me  a 
body  as  it  pleaseth  Him.  I  only  know  that  I  have  done 
with  this  one.  But  I  shall  outlive  it.  I  have  lost  it  more 
than  once  in  the  course  of  my  life,  and  I  shall  survive 
this  last  loss.  Bodies  come,  and  bodies  go,  but  I  go  on 
for  ever. 


18  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

My  work  is  done  here,  Elisha;  but  God  has  other 
worlds,  and  other  work  to  be  done  in  them.  I  shall  not  be 
idle.  Life  is  long  here,  but  it  is  longer  hereafter.  It  is 
a  far  cry  from  Lebanon  to  Pisgah,  from  the  sea  to  the 
Great  River.  I  have  covered  every  inch  of  the  ground 
with  weary  feet,  and  I  know.  But  when  I  think  of  the  dis- 
tance between  these  hills  and  the  stars,  Hermon  and 
Carmel  are  less  than  molehills  and  the  Great  Sea  is  but  a 
drop  in  the  bucket.  Our  human  life  bulks  large  upon 
this  earth,  but  under  the  stars  it  looms  infinitely  small. 
I  feel  dizzy  as  I  think  of  faring  forth  among  them. 

I  know  not  what  awaits  me  there  where  all  those  stars 
are  shining.  I  believe,  but  I  do  not  know.  But  I  shall 
know  soon.  Faith  is  about  to  become  sight.  And  the 
nearness  of  the  great  discovery  gives  me  pause.  My  eyes 
will  soon  close  upon  this  world.  When  I  open  them 
again,  what  shall  I  see  ?  I  have  sometimes  thought,  when 
my  spirit  chafed  against  the  bars  of  its  narrow  cage  and 
honed  after  freedom  from  the  flesh,  that  I  would  gladly 
die  in  order  to  know  what  death  only  can  reveal;  but  I 
confess  to  you,  Elisha,  as  the  hour  of  my  release  ap- 
proaches and  the  end  draws  near,  I  feel  a  great  awe,  al- 
most a  great  fear,  upon  me.  It  is  no  small  adventure, 
this  last  irrevocable  journey  into  the  unseen.  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart 
of  man  to  conceive  what  lies  beyond.  The  door  remains 
shut  until  we  get  to  it,  and  it  closes  behind  us  when  we 
pass  through.  There  is  no  seeing  before,  nor  coming 
back.  We  have  no  facts  to  go  upon;  only  speculation, 
and  hopes,  and  dreams.  We  who  have  been  used  to  this 
soUd  earth  beneath  our  feet,  how  we  hesitate  to  step  out 
upon  such  insubstantial  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of.  We 
hope,  and  we  fear.   Will  it  happen  according  to  our  hopes 


THE  PASSING  PROPHET  19 

or  according  to  our  fears?  It  remains  to  be  seen,  and 
each  one  of  us  must  see  for  himself.  Thousands  have 
made  the  great  discovery  before  me,  but  dead  men  tell 
no  tales.  Call  as  we  will,  there  is  no  answer  from  the 
other  side.  What  if  we  should  be  mistaken,  after  all, 
Elisha?  No;  I  will  not  believe  it.  Get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan.  It  cannot  be.  I  shall  survive  the  house  in  which  I 
have  lived,  the  tools  with  which  I  have  worked.  I  can  no 
more  stop  living  than  the  Jordan  there  can  stop  running, 
with  the  snows  of  Hermon  behind  it.  The  source  of  my 
life  is  too  high,  the  momentum  of  it  too  great.  I  feel  in 
me  the  pressure  of  God's  eternal  hills,  the  call  of  His 
eternal  years,  and  I  shall  not  stop  short  of  the  sea.  For- 
give me,  Elisha,  if  my  poor  human  soul  shrank  for  a 
moment  in  the  presence  of  the  great  mystery  of  death. 
You  will  never  know  until  you  enter  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  it. 

I  don't  know  where  I  am  going,  Elisha,  or  what  it  will 
be  like  there ;  but  I  know  to  Whom  I  am  going,  and  what 
He  is  like.  Because  He  lives,  and  where  He  lives,  I 
shall  live  also.  I  have  known  Him  here,  and  I  shall  know 
Him  there;  and  He  will  be  the  same,  and  I  shall  be  the 
same.  That  is  all  I  know,  and  that  is  all  I  need  to  know. 
Home  is  where  mother  is,  and  heaven  is  where  God  is. 


CHAPTER   III 


THE  FALLING  MANTLE 


I  AM  leaving  this  world,  Elisha,  as  poor  in  its  goods  as 
I  was  the  day  I  entered  it.  I  brought  nothing  in,  and  I 
am  taking  nothing  out.  I  have  not  striven  to  possess  the 
earth,  or  to  lay  up  treasures  in  it.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
own  it  in  order  to  enjoy  it.  Indeed,  it  has  seemed  to  me 
that  those  who  own  most  enjoy  least.  They  are  too  busj 
to  look  up;  either  too  busy  trying  to  keep  what  they 
have,  or  too  anxious  to  get  more.  Ahab  is  the  richest 
man  in  Israel,  and  yet  he  gave  himself  no  rest  until  he 
got  Naboth's  little  vineyard,  and  I  suspect  he  has  had 
less  rest  since  he  got  it. 

I  have  reaped  a  rich  harvest  from  this  world,  from  these 
blue  Syrian  skies  which  have  bent  over  me,  from  these 
hills  which  have  received  me  worn  and  weary  from  my 
work  and  sent  me  back  rested  and  refreshed  to  it,  from 
these  running  streams  and  whispering  trees  and  wide, 
open  deserts ;  and  this  I  shall  take  with  me.  But  the  sky 
and  the  mountains  and  the  rivers  and  the  plains,  I  leave  to 
those  who  come  after  me.  They  are  none  the  poorer  be- 
cause of  the  harvest  which  I  have  gleaned  from  them. 
They  hold  the  same  things  for  you,  EHsha,  ready  to  your 
hand,  and  when  you  have  taken  them,  they  will  still  be 
there  for  others.  That  is  the  glory  of  God's  good  earth 
for  those  who  seek  only  to  enjoy  it.  They  enrich  them- 
selves, and  rob  not  those  who  come  after  them. 

20 


THE  FALLING  MANTLE  21 

Only  the  mantle  on  my  back,  and  the  staff  in  my  hand. 
That  is  all  I  possess  this  day,  Elisha,  as  I  go  to  meet  my 
God;  and  these  I  shall  leave  behind.  The  gate  is  strait 
and  narrow,  and  admits  only  us.  All  that  we  have  put 
on,  we  must  put  off.  Naked  we  come,  and  naked  we  go. 
The  camel  must  unlade  its  burden,  and  the  rich  man  his 
load.  Only  that  which  we  have  put  within  can  we  take 
through.  Give  this  staff  to  the  first  lame  man  you  meet, 
Elisha,  and  tell  him  it  is  Elijah's  last  will  and  testament 
to  him.  This  mantle,  Elisha,  I  leave  to  you.  It  is  not 
mine  to  give.  I  have  worn  it,  but  it  is  not  mine ;  and  you 
shall  wear  it,  but  it  will  not  be  yours.  It  is  God's  mantle, 
which  He  gives  to  whom  He  will.  Others  have  worn  it 
before  me,  and  others  will  wear  it  after  you.  Men  were 
wearing  it  long  before  you  and  I  were  born,  and  they  will 
be  wearing  it  long  after  we  are  dead  and  gone.  Re- 
member that,  Elisha,  and  keep  it  out  of  the  dust.  It 
has  covered  a  multitude  of  sins,  and  many  grievous  mis- 
takes; but  it  has  never  covered  a  false  heart,  or  an  un- 
worthy motive.  God  can  forgive  anything  but  that  in  His 
prophets.  From  that  He  will  withdraw  His  spirit.  The 
prophet's  mantle  is  ever  falling,  from  shoulder  to  shoul- 
der, from  one  generation  to  another,  because  God's 
prophets  are  ever  passing.  It  has  worn  out  many 
prophets,  but  it  is  not  worn  out.  Prophets  come,  and  they 
go,  but  the  mantle  remains.  Leaves  come  and  go  on 
the  trees,  but  the  woods  remain.  The  blue  haze  comes  and 
goes  on  the  hills,  but  the  hills  abide.  Clouds  come  and  go 
in  the  sky,  but  the  stars  shine  on.  So  God's  workers 
come  and  go  in  the  earth,  but  God  remains,  and  His 
work  goes  on. 

It  is  hard  for  me  to  realize  how  the  earth  will  remain 
after  I  am  gone,  and  that  it  will  go  on  just  the  same, 


22  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

not  a  tear  more  for  winter,  not  a  smile  less  for  sum- 
mer. But  it  will.  It  has  survived  the  loss  of  others, 
and  it  will  survive  the  loss  of  me.  It  managed  to  get 
along  before  I  came,  and  it  will  get  along  after  I  am  gone. 
A  little  while,  and  I  shall  not  be.  The  birds  will  sing 
among  the  sycamore  trees  here  by  the  river,  but  I  shall 
not  hear  them.  These  woods  will  glow  with  the  very  fire 
of  God,  and  these  skies  flame  with  his  glory,  but  I  shall 
not  see  it.  Day  and  night,  winter  and  summer,  seedtime 
and  harvest,  will  pass,  each  with  its  own  peculiar  charm, 
but  I  shall  not  be  there  to  witness  it.  Other  men  will  live 
in  my  house,  other  men  will  sit  in  my  chair,  other  men 
will  watch  the  sun  set  from  my  window,  other  men  will 
go  about  the  streets  where  I  have  gone  and  look  upon  the 
old,  familiar  places,  other  men — Ugh!  Elisha,  when  you 
are  prone  to  think  too  highly  of  yourself,  and  of  your 
importance  in  the  world,  just  stop  and  look  up  at  God's 
far-off  stars,  that  looked  down  upon  Abraham  and  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  and  ask  yourself.  Where  will  I  be  a  hundred 
years  from  now  ?  That  question  under  the  stars  takes  the 
starch  out  of  the  best  of  us.  A  short  horse  is  soon  cur- 
ried, and  a  short  life  is  soon  lived,  and  sooner  forgotten. 
We  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf,  and  as  leaves  we  return  to  dust; 
but  God  is  the  same,  and  His  years  shall  not  fail. 

Do  you  know  how  the  cathedrals  of  Europe  were  built, 
Elisha?  Those  Gothic  dreams  in  stone,  which  lift  their 
spires  far  above  the  puny  habitations  of  men,  which  house 
the  worship  of  generations  and  see  so  much  human  dust 
return  to  dust;  they  were  not  built  in  a  day,  or  a  year. 
They  are  not  the  work  of  one  generation,  but  of  many; 
not  the  work  of  one  big  man  toiling  alone,  but  of  many 
little  men  working  together.  One  generation  quarried  the 
stone,  and  another  laid  the  foundation;  and  upon  that 


THE  FALLING  MANTLE  23 

the  superstructure  rose,  step  by  step,  stone  upon  stone, 
slowly,  painfully,  one  generation  passing  away  and  an- 
other generation  coming,  until  finally  the  last  stone  was 
laid,  and  another  masterpiece  was  added  to  the  monu- 
ments of  men.  Some  of  them  are  not  completed  yet, 
though  those  who  laid  the  first  stones  have  long  since  re- 
turned to  dust.  So  all  the  great  works  of  men  go  up, 
and  the  great  work  of  God  goes  on,  in  the  world — the 
pyramids  of  Egypt,  and  the  walls  of  Babylon,  and  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth.  God's  workers  are  many, 
His  work  is  one.  You  will  take  up  where  I  leave  off, 
Elisha,  and  some  one  else  will  take  up  where  you  leave 
off,  and  so  on  to  the  end. 

You  have  asked  for  a  double  portion  of  my  spirit, 
Elisha,  and  you  shall  have  it,  not  from  me,  but  from  God 
who  gave  it  to  me;  and  yet  I  wonder  if  you  know  what 
you  ask.  I  warn  you,  it  is  a  dangerous  possession.  It 
has  no  mercy  on  flesh  and  blood.  Your  feet  will  be  weary 
from  far  tramping  over  mountain  passes  and  burning 
sands,  but  still  it  will  urge  you  on,  if  there  is  a  king  to  be 
rebuked  or  a  wayfaring  man  to  be  succored.  In  vain  hu- 
man nature  will  cry  out  against  it.  It  will  not  spare.  It 
carries  men  whither  it  will.  It  has  carried  me  to  Ahab's 
court,  when  I  had  no  hope  of  getting  away  alive.  It  does 
not  stop  at  the  hate  of  man  or  the  petty  spite  of  women. 
It  led  Jesus  to  the  cross;  and  it  leads  all  his  followers 
thither,  soon  or  late,  sometimes  in  the  flesh,  always  in  the 
spirit.  God  spares  not  His  prophets.  But  we  should  not 
complain,  Elisha.  He  spares  not  Himself.  The  disciple 
is  not  above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above  his  lord. 
There  is  no  escape  from  the  cross.  The  pathway 
of  human  progress  leads  ever  to  it,  and  the  prophet 
is    the    pathfinder.      It    is    not    his    business    to    pos- 


24  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

sess  the  earth,  but  to  redeem  it;  and  redemption  comes 
higher  than  possession.  Men  have  gone  far,  and  endured 
great  privation  and  hardship,  to  possess  the  earth;  but 
they  have  gone  farther,  and  endured  even  greater  hard- 
ship, to  redeem  it.  The  world  comes  honestly  by  its 
choicest  possessions.  They  are  not  the  result  of  chance 
or  fortuitous  circumstance.  They  come  not  except  by 
toil  and  travail.  Without  shedding  of  blood,  and  some- 
times even  the  sweating  of  it,  there  is  no  redemption  or 
progress.  Look  back  over  the  long  road  we  have  travelled, 
Elisha,  and  see  for  yourself.  Almost  every  step  of  the 
journey  has  been  wet  with  the  tears  of  saints,  and  the 
sweat  of  pilgrims,  and  the  blood  of  martyrs.  I  know  not 
why  it  should  be  so,  why  it  is  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
comes  so  hardly  upon  earth ;  I  only  know  that  it  is  so. 

Square  your  shoulders,  Elisha,  to  receive  this  mantle. 
It  will  tax  their  strength  to  the  uttermost.  It  is  a  more 
rigorous  armour  than  the  soldier's  coat  of  mail,  or  the 
monk's  coarse  raiment.  It  is  not  for  comfort,  but  for 
service.  It  is  not  to  shelter  you  from  the  world,  but  to 
shelter  the  world  from  its  sins  and  sorrows  and  sicknesses. 
All  manner  of  men  in  all  manner  of  straits,  the  hard- 
pressed  and  the  heavy-laden,  will  run  to  it  for  sanctuary. 
Little  children  will  seek  shelter  within  its  folds.  Way- 
faring men  will  come  panting  for  cover  from  the  burden 
and  heat  of  the  day.  Blind  men  will  cry  after  you,  and 
lepers  call  from  their  dwelling  among  the  tombs.  You 
will  meet  prodigals  in  the  far  country,  ragged,  and 
wretched,  and  heartsick,  and  yet  too  proud  to  go  back 
home.  Behind  and  before,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  from  the  pool  by  the  sheep-market  where  impotent 
men  wait  in  vain  for  the  moving  of  the  waters,  from 
the  wayside  where  blind  men  sit  and  beg,  from  the  tombs 


THE  FALLING  MANTLE  25 

where  wild  men  tear  at  their  chains,  the  world  will  reach 
out  lame  hands  to  touch  the  hem  of  your  garment;  and 
woe  worth  the  day  when  it  finds  no  virtue  in  the  touch. 
The  virtue  is  not  in  the  mantle,  nor  in  the  man  inside  of 
it,  but  in  the  spirit  of  God  which  breathes  through  its 
folds.  It  is  that  which  the  world  is  seeking,  and  if  it 
find  it  not,  the  mantle  is  but  an  empty  shell,  and  the 
prophet's  voice  but  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbal. 
Do  you  realize,  Elisha,  what  it  is  that  is  coming  upon 
you?  It  is  not  the  shepherd's  crook,  or  the  magician's 
wand.  It  is  the  prophet's  mantle.  And  who  is  the 
prophet,  and  what  is  his  business  with  men?  He  is  not 
here  to  build  altars,  or  serve  tables;  he  is  not  here  to 
garnish  the  sepulchers  of  his  fathers,  or  to  leave  monu- 
ments to  his  children.  He  is  not  here  to  administer  sacra- 
ments, or  to  perpetuate  the  traditions  of  men.  He  is 
here  to  speak  for  God.  That  is  his  peculiar  function,  his 
chief  end  upon  earth,  and  his  solemn  responsibility  to  high 
heaven.  If  he  do  not  that,  whatever  else  he  may  do, 
he  has  missed  his  calling;  and  if  he  do  that,  whatever  else 
he  may  not  do,  he  has  fulfilled  his  mission.  Write  that 
large,  Elisha,  upon  the  posts  of  your  door  and  upon  the 
tablets  of  your  heart,  where  it  will  be  always  before  your 
eyes  and  in  your  thoughts,  lest  haply  you  forget  your 
errand  among  men.  No  greater  calamity  can  befall  a  man 
than  that  he  lose  sight  of  his  chief  end.  Think  of  it, 
Elisha.  To  be  on  the  way,  and  yet  not  know  where  you 
are  going;  to  be  in  the  world,  and  yet  not  know  what 
you  are  here  for !  Can  anything  worse  befall  a  man  than 
that?  I  can  think  of  nothing.  The  man  who  forgets 
that  has  lost  his  credentials,  and  can  no  longer  give  the 
world  a  reason  for  the  life  that  is  in  him.    He  can  never 


26  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

tell  when  his  work  is  done,  because  he  does  not  know 
what  it  is. 

And  it  is  no  light  thing  to  speak  for  God,  Elisha.  It 
lays  a  weight  upon  human  speech  almost  too  great  for 
it  to  bear.  To  have  men  hanging  upon  your  words, 
seeking  the  law  at  your  mouth,  listening  for  God's  voice 
on  your  tongue!  That  is  almost  too  much  for  flesh  and 
blood.  And  yet  that  is  the  prophet's  burden.  That  is 
the  burden  which  I  carried  to  Ahab,  which  Nathan  carried 
to  David,  which  Amos  carried  to  Moab  and  Israel  and 
Judah,  which  Jesus  carried  to  Capernaum  and  Tiberias 
and  Jerusalem,  which  Peter  and  James  and  John  carried 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  You  must  carry  it,  Elisha,  to 
great  and  small,  to  rich  and  poor,  to  good  and  bad,  alike ; 
taking  not  one  jot  from  it,  adding  not  one  jot  to  it. 
Sometimes  it  will  be  glad  news,  and  sometimes  it  will  be 
sad  news.  Sometimes  it  will  bear  you  down,  when  it 
carries  the  death  sentence  of  a  human  soul,  and  sometimes 
it  -will  bear  you  up,  when  it  brings  joy  to  the  broken- 
hearted and  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind ;  but  whether  it 
bring  joy  or  sorrow,  whether  it  mean  life  or  death, 
whether  it  load  your  heart  with  lead  or  give  wings  to  your 
feet,  you  must  bear  it.  Such  is  the  burden  of  the  word  of 
the  Lord.  God  has  no  other  organs  of  speech;  no  human 
voice  with  which  He  can  speak  to  human  beings.  He  had 
once,  in  Galilee  long  ago,  but  it  was  stilled  on  the  cross. 
He  must  put  this  treasure  henceforth  in  earthen  vessels. 

Weigh  well  what  you  say  for  God,  Elisha.  Listen  long 
and  anxiously  for  the  still  small  voice  before  you  let  the 
world  hear  your  own.  It  is  so  easy  to  mistake  it.  There 
are  so  many  other  subtle  voices  which  sound  so  much 
like  it,  so  many  others  which  men  would  rather  hear 
and  which  perhaps  you  would  rather  hear^    There  will  be 


THE  FALLING  MANTLE  27 

many  sweet  whispers  in  your  ear.  Weigh  well  your 
words  before  you  speak  them.  The  world  will  take  them 
for  God's  voice,  because  you  stand  in  God's  stead.  If  you 
speak  falsely  for  Him,  it  will  believe  a  lie;  if  you  point  in 
the  wrong  direction,  it  will  take  the  wrong  road  at  the 
parting  of  the  ways.  Beware,  Elisha.  It  is  a  terrible 
thing  to  put  a  human  soul  on  the  wrong  road,  to  mis- 
direct a  prodigal  on  his  way  back  home.  God  forbid  that 
you  and  I  should  ever  have  to  answer  for  that.  If  it  is  a 
grievous  thing  to  mince  a  human  message,  an  order  from 
a  general  to  his  soldiers,  a  dying  message  from  a  mother 
to  her  son,  how  much  more  grievous  is  it  to  mince  God's 
message  to  the  children  of  men. 

I  don't  know  what  awaits  me  yonder  across  the  river. 
It  will  all  come  upon  me  as  a  glad  surprise.  But  I  know 
what  waits  for  you,  Elisha,  here  on  this  side.  I  have 
been  here  these  three  score  years  and  ten,  and  I  know; 
and  before  we  go,  you  to  your  day's  work,  I  to  my  long 
home,  let  us  tarry  here  in  the  cool,  blue  shadow  of  these 
hills  and  talk  a  little  while  of  the  land  which  lies  behind 
tne  and  before  you,  of  the  changes  which  come  over  it, 
of  the  lights  and  shadows  which  play  upon  it,  of  the  gen- 
•^rations  which  come  and  go  in  it,  and  how  the  kingdom 
of  God  comes  to  it.  It  is  important  that  you  learn  to 
read  the  face  of  the  sky,  Elisha,  that  you  may  know  when 
storms  gather,  and  the  face  of  the  land,  that  you  may 
know  when  spring  comes,  and  summer,  and  winter;  but 
it  is  much  more  important  that  you  learn  to  read  the  face 
of  the  life  which  lies  between  the  land  and  the  sky,  that 
you  may  know  when  day  and  night  come  to  it,  and 
seedtime  and  harvest,  and  the  early  and  the  latter  rain, 
lest  haply  you  be  found  reaping  in  the  spring  and  sowing 
in  the  autumn.    God  made  the  land,  and  the  lights  which 


28  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

shine  upon  it — the  light  which  rules  the  day,  and  the  lights 
which  rule  the  night,  and  the  light  which  rules  the  hearts 
of  men ;  and  to  each  He  has  given  its  season. 

I  know  you  are  anxious  to  get  to  your  work,  Elisha, 
and  you  do  well  to  be.  Your  day  will  be  not  a  moment 
too  long.  The  fields  are  white  to  the  harvest,  and  the 
laborers  are  few.  But  be  sure  that  your  sickle  is  sharp 
before  you  thrust  it  in.  Israel  was  in  sore  bondage  in  the 
days  of  Moses,  and  the  yoke  of  Pharaoh  pressed  hardly 
upon  their  necks ;  but  Moses  remained  forty  years  in  the 
desert.  'The  world  was  in  sorer  bondage  in  the  days  of 
Pilate,  and  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  wandered 
upon  the  mountains  without  a  shepherd;  but  Jesus  re- 
mained thirty  years  at  the  bench.  Better  less  work  well 
done  than  more  work  but  pwDorly  accomplished.  The 
time  to  think  about  life  is  at  the  beginning  of  it.  It  is  too 
late  at  the  end.  It  is  all  over  then,  and  not  a  moment  of 
it  can  be  recalled.  There  are  some  things  which  never 
come  back — the  arrow  that  is  flown,  the  word  that  is 
spoken,  the  life  that  is  gone.  We  shall  not  pass  this  way 
again,  Elisha.  We  live  but  once,  and  from  it  there  is 
no  appeal.  So  look  with  all  your  heart  upon  these  moun- 
tains and  rivers  and  plains,  and  live  with  all  your  might 
the  few  years  upon  earth  which  God  gives  you  to  live. 


CHAPTER   IV 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH 


I  AM  going  the  way  of  all  the  earth,  Elisha — the  way 
of  the  grass  under  your  feet,  and  the  stars  over  your 
head;  the  way  of  the  Parthenon,  and  the  pyramid  of 
Cheops,  and  the  temple  of  Solomon ;  the  way  of  most  of 
the  work  of  man,  and  much  of  the  work  of  God.  Where 
are  the  flowers  that  bloomed  in  the  springtime,  and  the 
leaves  which  fell  from  the  trees  in  the  autumn?  Where 
is  the  grove  of  Daphne  by  the  Orontes — the  fountains  that 
played  there,  the  birds  which  sang  there,  the  men  and  the 
maidens  who  walked  and  talked  and  laughed  and  made 
love  there?  Where  indeed?  Ask  the  winds  that  have 
passed  over  them,  the  earth  that  has  swallowed  them  up. 
We  toil  and  sweat  to  build  cities,  and  plant  gardens, 
and  pile  up  monuments,  only  to  have  them  crumble  back 
to  dust.  But  we  should  not  complain,  or  charge  God 
foolishly.  It  is  so  with  much  of  His  work — the  leaves 
that  He  makes  every  summer,  the  clouds  that  He  paints 
with  such  careful  hand,  the  worlds  which  He  gathers 
through  millenniums  out  of  the  dust.  If  He  does  not 
spare  His  own  work,  we  should  not  complain  that  He 
does  not  spare  ours. 

So  runs  the  world  away;  away  to  the  encroaching 
sands  of  the  desert,  and  the  undermining  waves  of  the  sea. 
But  don't  be  alarmed,  Elisha.    Your  house  will  not  be  left 

29 


30  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

unto  you  desolate.  The  world  is  going  with  me,  but 
it  is  also  remaining  with  you.  It  was  here  before  I  came, 
and  it  will  be  here  after  I  am  gone.  God  sweeps  His  house, 
but  He  does  not  leave  it  empty.  Other  things  come  to 
take  the  place  of  those  that  go.  A  little  while  and  you 
will  hear  my  voice  no  more,  nor  touch  my  hand ;  but  you 
will  hear  other  voices,  and  clasp  other  hands.  The  sun 
is  sinking  into  the  sea,  but  it  will  rise  again  out  of  the 
desert.  The  birds  fly  away  at  the  approach  of  winter,  but 
they  come  again  at  the  approach  of  summer.  The  trees 
shed  their  leaves  in  the  fall,  but  they  put  forth  new  ones 
in  the  spring.  God  keeps  His  covenant  of  day  and  night, 
and  seedtime  and  harvest.  He  always  has  His  man  ready 
at  the  appointed  time.  He  is  never  taken  unawares.  You 
are  here  to  take  up  my  work,  Elisha,  and  He  will  have  an- 
other there  to  take  up  yours  when  you  lay  it  down. 
Never  fear.  And  let  us  hope  that  each  generation  is  a 
little  better  than  its  predecessor,  and  improves  upon  its 
work.  God  made  better  leaves  this  year  than  He  made 
last,  and  also  better  men.  You  will  be  a  better  man  than 
I  have  been,  Elisha,  and  do  a  little  better  work;  and  so 
with  the  man  who  comes  after  you.  God  is  not  simply 
holding  His  own ;  He  is  marching  on. 

You  will  see  a  great  show  of  change  on  every  hand, 
Elisha,  from  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south,  from  green 
to  red  and  gold  and  brown,  from  childhood  to  youth  and 
from  youth  to  old  age;  the  world  will  pass  by  you  in  a 
seemingly  endless  procession — leaves  blow  on  the  wings 
of  the  wind,  birds  flying  before  the  wrath  of  the  storm, 
rivers  running  their  everlasting  journey  to  the  sea,  men 
and  women,  and  even  little  children,  hurried  like  dumb, 
driven  cattle  by  the  inexorable  years;  until  you  will  be 
tempted  to  conclude  that  nothing  is  permanent.    Flowers 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH  31 

bloom  only  to  die.  Rivers  are  gathered  out  of  the  sea, 
only  to  run  back  into  it.  Things  come  into  sight,  only  to 
pass  out  of  it  again.  Nothing  remains.  Dust  they  are, 
and  to  dust  they  return.  Nature  gathers  up  the  dust,  and 
flings  it  away  with  the  same  reckless  hand. 

"So  careful  of  the  type  she  seems, 
So  careless  of  the  single  life. 

"So  careful  of  the  type?  but  no. 
From  scarped  cliff  and  quarried  stone 
She  cries,  'A  thousand  types  are  gone, 
I  care  for  nothing,  all  shall  go'." 

So  it  would  seem,  Elisha,  on  the  face  of  it,  whether  you 
look  at  the  face  of  the  sky  or  the  faces  you  pass  on  the 
street.  The  expression  of  both  is  constantly  changing. 
Nature  seem  to  care  for  nothing,  and  nature  is  but  God 
at  work.  If  it  is  not  He,  who  is  it?  He  "brings  to  life, 
He  brings  to  death"  with  the  same  indifferent  hand,  car- 
ing, apparently,  no  more  for  the  one  than  the  other. 
That  is  the  way  it  looked  to  Tennyson,  and  that  is  the 
way  it  looks  to  you  and  me,  Elisha. 

But  Tennyson  knew  better  in  his  sober  moments.  By 
the  way,  you  will  find  him  not  very  consistent,  Elisha. 
He  seems  to  talk  out  of  both  sides  of  his  mouth,  now  this 
way,  now  that,  because  he  was  in  a  constant  strait  be- 
twixt his  faith  on  the  one  hand  and  his  sight  on  the  other. 
The  old  faith  and  the  new  knowledge  met  in  him,  and 
fought  it  out,  and  they  almost  tore  the  poor  man's  soul 
asunder.  He  saw  things  with  clear  eyes,  and  yet  he 
could  not  believe  what  he  saw.  No  man  can,  when  he 
stops  to  think  it  through.  We  instinctively  feel  that  there 
is  something  which  does  not  appear  to  the  naked  eye, 
something  which  escapes  even  the  most  powerful  lens; 


32  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

that  this  everlasting  circle  from  dust  to  dust  again  is 
not  the  real  thing;  that  there  is  something  which  stands 
under  it  all,  a  final  residuum  which  is  never  resolved. 

What  then  does  God  care  for?  What  does  He  keep, 
and  what  does  He  cast  aside  ?  What  is  the  enduring  sub- 
stance, and  what  the  passing  shadow?  You  do  well  to 
find  out,  Elisha,  and  you  will  do  well  to  remember.  Every 
worker  should  know  his  material — the  potter  his  clay,  the 
artist  his  pigment,  the  prophet  his  human  stuff.  You  are 
to  be  a  worker  in  human  clay,  Elisha;  and  it  is  not  one, 
but  two.  It  is  a  rare  mixture  of  the  dust  of  the  earth  and 
the  breath  of  God.  "God  made  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life, 
and  he  became  a  living  soul."  That  is  the  way  He  made 
the  first  man,  and  that  is  the  way  He  will  make  the  last 
one.  There  is  no  other  way.  It  does  not  matter  how  He 
breathed  it  in,  or  how  long  it  took  Him ;  whether  in  a  day 
by  a  single  act,  or  by  strange  and  mysterious  processes 
through  countless  years.  He  breathed  it  in,  and  it  is  there, 
a  heavenly  treasure  in  an  earthen  vessel.  The  seen  and  the 
unseen,  the  temporal  and  the  eternal,  meet  in  the  human 
consciousness,  but  they  do  not  meet  in  a  clear-cut  hne, 
as  the  hills  meet  the  sky.  They  shade  off  into  each  other, 
like  day  into  night,  and  thereby  hangs  the  difficulty  of  the 
prophet's  task.  It  is  sometimes  hard  to  tell  just  where  one 
leaves  off,  and  the  other  begins.  You  will  handle  both 
perishable  and  imperishable  material,  Elisha,  the  dust  of 
the  earth  and  the  breath  of  God,  and  you  will  need  to  know 
the  one  from  the  other,  that  you  may  put  the  emphasis  in 
the  right  place.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh, 
and  goes  the  way  of  all  flesh;  and  that  which  is  born  of 
the  spirit  is  spirit,  and  shares  the  fate  of  all  spirit.  Don't 
make  the  mistake  of  building  your  house  upon  the  sand. 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH  33 

Elisha;  for  the  rain  will  fall,  and  the  winds  will  blow, 
and  the  years  will  pass  with  corroding  feet.  It  will  fall, 
inevitably  as  autumn  leaves,  and  great  will  be  the  fall  of 
it,  for  you  as  well  as  for  others.  There  is  but  one  end  to 
"all  valiant  dust,"  however  valiant,  ''that  builds  on  dust 
and  guarding,  calls  not  Him  to  guard."  Soon  or  late, 
the  dust  will  have  its  own.    It  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

Let  us  see,  if  we  can,  what  it  is  in  all  this  pageantry 
of  life  that  passes,  and  what  it  is  that  remains,  that  we 
may  lay  our  life  upon  sure  foundations,  and  put  the  ac- 
cent of  our  gospel  upon  the  right  syllable. 

The  thoughts  of  men  change  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, but  the  facts  about  which  they  think  remain  very 
much  the  same.  The  same  stars  look  down  upon  us  as 
upon  the  ancient  Magi,  but  we  look  up  to  them  with  differ- 
ent eyes.  Astrology  has  changed  to  astronomy,  and  al- 
chemy to  chemistry,  but  the  stars  in  their  courses  have  not 
changed.  Our  fathers  thought  that  the  earth  was  flat, 
and  we  think  it  is  round,  not  because  the  earth  has  changed 
its  shape,  but  because  men  have  revised  their  thoughts. 
The  centre  of  the  solar  system  has  not  shifted  since  Cop- 
ernicus, it  is  only  the  thoughts  of  men  that  have  shifted. 
Thinking  does  not  make  things  so,  nor  keep  them  from 
being  so.  Don't  forget  that,  Elisha.  It  makes  a  differ- 
ence to  the  thinker,  but  it  does  not  make  any  difference 
in  the  things.  The  earth  remains  the  same,  whether  we 
think  it  round  or  flat,  and  God  remains  the  same,  whether 
we  think  Him  many  or  one. 

The  fashions  of  the  world  pass  away,  but  the  world 
itself  does  not  pass.  It  is  the  same  head  that  we  cover, 
whether  we  put  on  it  a  turban  or  a  top  hat,  the  same  heart 
that  we  house,  whether  with  homepsun  or  purple  and  fine 
linen.     Men  wear  sandals  to-day,  and  shoes  to-morrow; 


34  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

they  lie  down  to  eat  in  one  generation,  and  sit  up  in  an- 
other ;  they  shake  hands  when  they  meet  in  one  land,  and 
bow  their  faces  to  the  ground  in  another ;  but  in  all  lands, 
and  under  all  skies,  the  way  of  a  man  with  a  woman,  and 
the  way  of  a  woman  with  a  man  is  very  much  the  same. 
The  story  of  Samson  and  Delilah,  of  Solomon  and  the 
Shulamite,  is  repeated  from  land  to  land  and  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  We  no  longer  build  walls  about 
our  cities,  with  chambers  over  the  gates;  but  David  still 
mourns  over  Absalom,  and  will  not  be  comforted  be- 
cause he  is  not.    "Oh,  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son." 

"There  is  no  far  or  near, 
There  is  no  there  or  here, 
Nor  any  long  ago, 
To  that  cry  of  human  woe." 

It  is  the  everlasting  cry  after  the  prodigal  son,  whether  it 
come  from  the  lips  of  a  king  or  a  humble  cotter.  The  first 
man  Adam  had  a  prodigal  son,  and  perhaps  the  last  man 
Adam  will  have  one.  The  customs  and  conventions  of 
life  change,  the  manners  of  men,  and  their  habits  of 
speech,  from  generation  to  generation;  but  their  human 
hearts  beat  to  the  same  passions,  and  ache  -with  the  same 
pains,  and  faint  under  the  same  burdens,  from  one  age 
to  another,  and  from  one  world  to  the  other. 

Men  satisfy  their  needs  in  different  ways,  but  it  is  the 
same  need  that  they  satisfy,  each  in  his  own  way.  The 
dog  laps  up  water  with  its  tongue,  the  horse  sucks  it  be- 
tween its  teeth,  and  man  drinks  it  out  of  a  cup;  but  it  is 
the  same  water  in  each  case,  and  it  quenches  the  same 
thirst.  We  call  God  by  different  names,  and  bow  down  to 
Him  at  different  altars,  and  worship  Him  after  different 
forms ;  but  it  is  the  same  God  we  seek,  if  haply  we  may  find 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH  85 

Him.  Whether  we  pray  to  Him  on  our  feet  or  on  our 
knees,  with  hands  folded  or  upHfted,  with  faces  toward 
Jerusalem  or  toward  Mecca,  we  want  very  much  the  same 
things  of  Him,  and  He  wants  very  much  the  same  things 
of  us.  ''Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a 
right  spirit  within  me."  That  is  what  David  wanted  of 
Him,  and  what  more  do  we  want  ?  ''What  doth  the  Lord 
require  of  thee,  O  man,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God."  That  is  what  God 
wanted  of  Israel  three  thousand  years  ago,  and  it  is  what 
He  wants  of  us. 

You  will  find  that  most  of  the  boasted  change  in  this 
world,  Elisha,  is  only  on  the  surface,  that  most  of  the 
differences  between  one  generation  and  another  are  very 
largely  superficial.  Think  not  that  the  former  times  were 
better  than  these,  simply  because  you  cannot  see  any 
freckles  on  the  peoples'  faces.  It  is  only  because  they  are 
too  far  away.  Distance  covers  a  multitude  of  sins.  And 
think  not  that  your  times  are  better  than  former  times, 
because  men  wear  better  clothes,  and  live  in  better  houses, 
and  ride  in  automobiles  instead  of  ox-wagons.  It  does 
not  necessarily  follow.  There  are  changes,  deep  down 
and  far-reaching,  but  they  do  not  appear  readily  upon  the 
surface.  Those  which  appear  to  the  naked  eye  from  day 
to  day  are  mostly  evanescent  and  unimportant.  The  trees 
shed  their  leaves,  but  not  their  roots  and  branches.  It  is 
so  with  the  tree  of  life.  You  will  hear  a  great  rustling  in 
the  woods,  as  if  the  very  heavens  were  falling;  but  don't 
be  deceived.  It  is  "nothing  but  leaves,"  Elisha,  nothing 
but  leaves.  The  roots  of  the  trees  are  still  in  the  ground, 
and  they  take  hold  upon  the  very  ribs  of  the  earth ;  and  the 
branches  are  still  in  the  air,  reaching  up  their  fingers  a 
little  further  toward  heaven.     We  should  rejoice  to  see 


86  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

the  trees  put  forth  their  leaves,  and  see  them  fall  with 
sorrow ;  but  we  should  not  be  too  much  encouraged  by  the 
one,  or  too  much  discouraged  by  the  other.  The  produc- 
tion of  leaves  is  not  the  main  business  of  trees.  That  is 
only  incidental  to  the  day's  work. 

You  will  find  motion  everywhere,  Elisha,  where  there 
is  life.  Only  dead  things  are  still.  But  motion  is  not 
necessarily  progress.  The  crawfish  moves,  but  it  does 
not  go  forward.  The  oxen  move  on  the  threshing-floor, 
but  they  do  not  get  anywhere ;  they  continually  find  them- 
selves back  where  they  started  out.  Beware  of  the  circle, 
Elisha.  It  is  the  motion  that  kills,  and  drives  to  the  mad- 
house and  jumping-off  place.  *'One  generation  passeth 
away,  and  another  generation  cometh;  but  the  earth 
abideth  for  ever.  The  sun  also  ariseth,  and  the  sun  goeth 
down,  and  hasteth  to  his  place  where  he  arose.  The  wind 
goeth  toward  the  south,  and  turneth  about  unto  the  north ; 
it  whirleth  about  continually;  and  the  wind  returneth 
again  according  to  his  circuits.  All  the  rivers  run  into  the 
sea,  yet  the  sea  is  not  full ;  unto  the  place  whence  the 
rivers  came,  thither  they  return  again.  All  things  are  full 
of  labour ;  man  cannot  utter  it ;  the  eye  is  not  satisfied  with 
seeing,  nor  the  ear  filled  with  hearing.  The  thing  that 
hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be ;  and  that  which  is  done 
is  that  which  shall  be  done;  and  there  is  no  new  thing 
under  the  sun."  Poor  man,  he  had  got  caught  in  the 
deadly  circle,  even  though  he  was  a  king  and  had  all  the 
resources  of  the  world  at  his  command.  He  got  up 
every  morning  to  find  things  going  the  same  old  round  of 
the  day  before,  and  he  went  to  bed  at  night  knowing  that 
they  would  go  the  same  old  round  on  the  morrow.  He 
had  travelled  the  same  old  circle,  seeing  the  same  old  fa- 
miliar sights,  hearing  the  same  old  familiar  sounds,  meet- 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH  37 

ing  the  same  old  familiar  faces,  until  he  was  sick  to  death 
of  it  all.  God  have  mercy  on  a  man  when  life  comes  to 
that.  The  world  has  been  turned  into  a  potter's  wheel, 
and  his  life  is  crushed  out  upon  it  like  clay. 

Progress  is  motion  forward,  Elisha;  motion  in  a  cer- 
tain direction,  toward  a  given  end.  There  may  be  eddies 
in  the  stream,  and  even  temporary  reactions  from  break- 
ers ;  but  the  main  current  is  ever  forward  toward  the  sea. 
Get  into  the  main  current  of  the  river,  Elisha,  and  add 
your  strength  to  the  strength  of  the  stream.  Don't  be  con- 
tent simply  to  be  in  motion.  Be  sure  that  you  are  getting 
somewhere.  The  sea  is  constantly  in  motion,  heaving, 
swelling,  rising,  falling,  smiling  in  the  sun,  writhing  in 
the  storm,  sobbing  with  the  sadness  of  unnumbered  ship- 
wrecks in  its  depths ;  but  most  of  it  is  lost  motion.  Only 
the  main  tides  ever  reach  the  land.  That  is  the  sad  thing 
about  all  this  running  to  and  fro  of  men  upon  earth, 
Elisha.  Most  of  it  is  lost  motion.  It  does  not  get  us  any- 
where. Consider  the  trees  of  the  field,  Elisha,  how  they 
grow,  and  how  they  serve.  They  really  accomplish  some- 
thing through  the  season.  All  their  budding  and  bloom- 
ing and  putting  forth  of  leaves  is  not  in  vain.  They  have 
something  to  show  for  it  in  the  fall.  It  is  not  that  they 
get  new  leaves  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  ones ;  they  will 
lose  those  in  turn.  They  lose  this  year's  leaves  as  they 
lost  last  year's;  but  at  the  end  of  the  summer  their 
branches  are  a  little  nearer  the  stars,  and  their  trunks  a 
little  stronger,  and  their  roots  a  little  deeper  in  the  earth, 
and  the  ground  underneath  them  a  little  richer  for  the 
fallen  leaves;  the  birds  have  sung  among  their  branches, 
and  sheep  and  cattle  and  wayfaring  men  have  rested  in 
their  shade,  and  there  is  fruit  perhaps  for  man  and  beast, 
and  somewhere,  in  storehouse  or  barn  or  underneath  the 


38  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

sod,  new  seed  for  the  life  that  is  to  come  after.  That  is 
progress,  and  that  is  service. 

If  you  go  forward,  EHsha,  in  a  straight  line  and  not  in  a 
circle,  as  it  is  to  be  hoped  you  will,  you  will  be  ever  doing 
two  things — you  will  be  meeting  new  things,  and  leaving 
old  things  behind.  That  is  not  true  of  those  who  travel 
in  a  circle.  After  the  first  round,  they  see  nothing  that 
they  have  not  seen  before,  nothing  that  they  will  not  see 
again.  But  those  who  go  forward  are  constantly  seeing 
things  for  the  first  time,  and  also  for  the  last  time.  Run- 
ning streams  do  that,  and  flying  birds,  and  growing  men 
and  women.  It  is  incidental  to  all  progress,  and  the  for- 
ward traveller  must  be  prepared  to  meet  it.  You  will 
meet  with  accidents  on  your  journey,  Elisha,  which  you 
cannot  foresee  or  prepare  against.  You  will  have  to  make 
the  most  of  them  when  they  come.  But  not  so  with  the 
incidents  which  are  inevitable  to  your  journey.  You  can 
anticipate  them,  and  be  prepared  to  meet  them.  How 
shall  we  meet  the  new  things,  and  after  what  manner  shall 
we  part  with  the  old  ?  Those  are  the  questions,  or  rather 
the  two  halves  of  the  same  question,  which  will  confront 
you  at  every  step,  and  you  will  do  well  to  have  an  answer 
beforehand.  It  will  save  you  much  delay,  and  many  a 
foolish  adventure. 

There  are  the  old  things  which  you  will  be  constantly 
leaving  behind.  Don't  cry  after  them,  Elisha,  or  try  to 
keep  them.  They  may  be  dear  to  you,  and  have  proved 
faithful  companions  in  the  way,  but  don't  waste  any  tears 
on  them.  It  will  not  bring  them  back.  It  will  only  hold 
you  back.  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead,  and  the  past  have 
its  own.  Travel  light,  Elisha,  with  the  least  possible 
amount  of  baggage.  What  if  the  trees  should  try  to  keep 
all  the  leaves  they  have  grown  ?    And  yet  some  good  peo- 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH  39 

pie  would  load  life  with  all  the  forms  it  has  brought  forth. 
That  is  why  the  world  makes  such  slow  progress.  It  is 
loaded  down  with  dead  leaves — old  thoughts  that  have 
been  outgrown,  old  creeds  that  are  outworn,  old  forms 
and  formulas  that  have  had  their  day  and  served  their 
purpose.  Folks  still  cling  to  them  for  the  sake  of  what 
they  have  done.  Trees  are  wiser  in  their  generation. 
They  do  not  try  to  keep  their  old  leaves.  They  do  not 
shed  them  all  at  once.  Some  fall  of  their  own  weight  in 
the  fall,  others  are  blown  off  by  the  winter  winds,  while 
others  hang  on  until  spring  and  are  pushed  off  by  the 
swelling  buds ;  but  they  all  go,  soon  or  late,  and  give  place 
to  new  ones.  Only  dead  trees  keep  their  old  leaves.  Last 
year's  leaves  are  worse  than  useless,  if  they  stay  on  too 
long.  They  are  in  the  way  of  new  leaves,  and  cumber 
the  trees.  Don't  put  new  wine  in  old  bottles,  Elisha,  or 
sew  new  cloth  on  old  garments.  Don't  try  to  wear  Saul's 
armour  if  it  does  not  fit  you.  Be  content  with  your  simple 
stone  and  sling.  To  every  man  his  own  armour,  and  to 
every  generation  its  own  forms. 

The  past  will  lay  strong  hands  upon  you,  Elisha,  and 
hold  on  with  a  death  grip.  The  hardest  hold  in  all  the 
world  to  break  is  the  hold  of  a  dying  man.  Old  things 
will  die  hard,  but  let  them  die.  They  were  good  for  their 
day,  but  their  day  is  passed.  Peace  to  their  ashes.  Don't 
forget  the  service  they  have  rendered,  or  the  lessons  they 
have  taught;  but  look  not  back.  Remember  Lot's  wife. 
You  may  not  turn  to  a  pillar  of  salt,  but  you  will  turn  to 
a  fossil,  and  that  is  just  as  bad.  We  don't  carry  our 
school-books  about  with  us  after  we  leave  school,  but 
only  the  lessons  we  learned  from  them.  The  past  is  use- 
ful as  a  guidepost,  but  wayfaring  men  are  not  supposed  to 
take  the  guideposts  with  them.     In  so  doing,  they  would 


40  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

only  cumber  themselves  and  rob  those  who  come  after 
them.  Guideposts  are  simply  to  be  read,  and  then  left 
for  other  travellers  who  will  be  coming  on. 

Let  the  new  things  recompense  you  for  the  loss  of  the 
old,  Elisha;  and  you  will  be  continually  coming  to  them, 
as  surely  as  you  will  be  leaving  the  old  behind.  Life  hath 
its  compensations.  The  world  is  new  every  morning,  and 
the  earth  is  new  every  summer,  to  those  who  have  eyes 
to  see  it  and  a  heart  to  understand.  It  may  be  that  God 
is  new  every  moment.  Who  knows  ?  Perhaps  that  is  the 
reason  He  never  grows  old,  though  He  is  eternal.  A 
thousand  years  in  His  sight  are  but  as  a  single  day.  Did 
you  ever  stop  to  consider,  Elisha,  what  a  terrible  thing 
it  would  be  for  God  to  allow  Himself  to  grow  old?  He 
cannot  afford  it,  with  all  His  eternal  years  on  His  hands. 
No  more  can  we.  We  have  too  long  to  live.  But  we  will 
grow  old,  inevitably  and  inexorably,  if  we  do  not  let 
spring  continually  return  to  our  hearts.  It  is  here  that 
we  come  upon  the  secret  of  perpetual  youth.  The  old 
Spaniard  was  looking  for  it  in  the  wrong  place,  and  in 
the  wrong  way.  It  was  too  bad  that  he  should  have  gone 
so  far  to  seek  something  which  he  might  have  found 
nearer  home.  It  is  not  in  the  New  World  any  more  than 
it  is  in  the  Old.  What  rainbow-chasers  we  are,  Elisha, 
and  what  asses  we  make  of  ourselves,  running  over  land 
and  sea  after  wild  geese  when  we  have  plenty  of  better 
ones  in  our  own  dooryard.  What  fools  we  think  our 
fathers  were  in  their  day,  and  what  fools  will  our  chil- 
dren think  we  were  in  ours.  The  end  of  the  rainbow  is 
not  above  us,  or  beneath  us,  or  beyond  us.  It  is  within 
us,  in  our  secret  hearts,  where  we  are  continually  in  con- 
tact with  unseen  and  eternal  things.     It  is  there  that  the 


THE  CHANGING  EARTH  41 

fountain  of  youth  flows  fresh  from  the  throne  of  God, 
and  it  is  open  to  all. 

Greet  each  new  day  with  a  glad  heart,  Elisha,  and  the 
new  things  which  the  day  brings  forth.  Be  glad  of  the 
flowers  with  their  morning  faces,  and  the  birds  with  their 
early  songs.  They  are  God's  messengers,  running  before 
Him,  and  singing  as  they  run.  God  does  not  sound  a 
trumpet  before  Him,  but  He  sends  messengers,  to  those 
who  have  ears  to  hear  them.  They  will  always  be  there 
waiting  for  you,  Elisha,  if  you  look  for  them,  with  their 
kindly  ministry  of  courage  and  good  cheer.  They  will 
sing  you  to  sleep  at  night,  and  wake  you  in  the  morning. 
They  will  go  with  you  to  your  work,  however  humble  it 
may  be  if  only  it  be  honest,  and  hearten  you  with  song. 
Their  hands  may  be  the  hands  of  Esau,  hairy  and  horny; 
but  their  voice  is  the  very  voice  of  God,  and  their  music 
the  gladness  of  the  world. 

Life  is  a  great  glad  game,  Elisha,  to  those  who  play  it 
gladly ;  a  high  adventure,  to  those  who  enter  upon  it  with  a 
high  heart.  God  speed  you  on  your  far  journey,  and 
bring  you  with  joy  to  your  journey's  end.  It  will  lead  you 
over  high  mountains,  and  across  burning  sands.  The  sun 
will  parch  your  lips,  and  the  sands  blister  your  feet.  The 
shadows  of  passing  clouds  will  darken  your  way,  but  be 
not  dismayed ;  the  clouds  will  pass,  and  the  shadows  with 
them.  The  world  will  cry  to  you,  from  the  right  hand, 
and  from  the  left ;  but  go  not  after  it.  Let  your  eyes  look 
right  on.  Be  strong,  and  of  a  good  courage;  and  re- 
member always  that  you  carry  with  you  wherever  you 
go  the  same  old  human  heart  that  beat  in  the  bosom  of 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  that  will  beat  in  all  the 
children  of  men  to  the  end  of  time.  Keep  it  with  all  dili- 
gence, for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life ;  on  it  the  world 


42  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

registers  its  final  changes,  and  in  it  the  chief  goods  of 
life  are  stored.  Can  these  changes  be  passed  on  to  others, 
as  we  transmit  the  fashion  of  our  faces  or  the  color  of 
our  eyes?  I  do  not  know,  Elisha.  Doctors  are  dis- 
agreed. I  only  know  that  we  take  them  with  us  whither 
we  go,  and  that  we  take  nothing  besides.  The  final  ex- 
pression of  life  is  in  terms  of  character.  That  is  all  we 
will  have  to  show  for  the  life  we  have  lived,  all  we  will 
have  to  present  to  our  God  when  we  meet  Him  in  judg- 
ment. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  TWO  COMMANDMENTS 

I  HAVE  Spoken  to  you  of  yourself  first,  Elisha,  because 
you  come  first  in  the  natural  order  of  things.  We  are  men 
before  we  are  prophets,  something  which  I  fear  we  too 
easily  forget.  Life  is  more  than  work.  We  live  before 
we  work,  and  while  we  work,  and  after  we  work.  It  is 
possible  that  a  man  preach  to  others  and  yet  himself  be 
cast  away.  That  was  Paul's  fear,  and  it  ought  to  be  the 
fear  of  everyone  who  speaks  for  God,  and  he  ought  to 
keep  it  constantly  before  his  eyes.  After  all,  the  prophet's 
life  is  the  most  convincing  thing  about  him.  That  is  the 
gospel  according  to  him,  and  whatever  else  he  may  have 
to  say  can  only  reinforce  it. 

Practise  what  you  preach.  That  is  well.  But  preach 
what  you  have  practised.  That  is  better.  Practice  it  first, 
if  it  is  practicable,  and  preach  it  afterward.  Perhaps 
you  will  not  care  to  preach  it  after  you  have  tried  it  out 
on  yourself.  If  prophets  had  always  followed  that  rule, 
it  would  have  saved  the  world  many  a  foolish  message. 
It  has  pleased  God  to  save  the  world  by  the  foolishness  of 
preaching,  but  not  by  foolish  preaching.  There's  a  dif- 
ference, Elisha ;  and  the  only  way  to  tell  the  difference  is 
to  put  it  to  the  acid  test  of  life.  Time  will  tell,  if  you  give 
it  time  enough.  Look  well  to  yourself  first,  that  your  life 
squares  with  your  gospel,  and  then  forget  yourself  ever 
afterward. 

43 


44  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

So,  having  paid  our  respects  to  the  prophet,  let  us  pro- 
ceed to  the  business  of  prophesying,  and  especially  the 
prophecy  of  new  truth.  Not  that  new  truth  is  more  im- 
portant than  old,  but  because  it  is  more  liable  to  be  your 
business  to  preach  it.  God  generally  puts  new  wine  in 
new  bottles,  and  reveals  new  truth  to  young  men.  Not 
always,  but  as  a  rule.  It  was  a  young  man  who  led  Israel 
out  of  the  wilderness  into  the  Promised  Land.  Jesus  was 
young  when  he  walked  by  the  sea  and  died  on  the  cross. 
The  witnesses  who  stoned  Stephen  laid  down  their  gar- 
ments at  the  feet  of  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Saul. 
And  the  world  is  still  laying  its  garments  at  the  feet  of 
young  men,  and  God  is  spreading  his  heavenly  visions 
before  their  eyes.  It  was  a  young  man  who  looked  upon 
America  for  the  first  time,  and  turned  the  feet  of  civilisa- 
tion toward  the  setting  sun.  It  is  not  without  significance 
that  most  of  the  great  discoveries  have  been  made  by  men 
under  forty,  and  discovery  is  but  the  human  side  of  revela- 
tion. Man  discovers,  God  reveals.  They  are  but  reverse 
sides  of  the  same  process.  Revelation  is  God's  journey 
to  man,  discovery  man's  journey  to  God;  and  they  are 
travelling  toward  each  other  at  the  same  time.  God  is 
eternally  young,  and  it  is  the  eternal  youth  in  man  that 
discovers  Him.  Youth  is  adventurous.  It  hitches  its 
wagon  to  wandering  stars.  It  is  young  men  who  go  on 
long  journeys  into  strange  lands,  and  come  back  with 
tales  that  startle  the  world  out  of  its  sleep.  Old  men 
prefer  to  remain  at  home  by  their  comfortable  fires.  They 
shrink  from  the  high  seas.  We  cease  to  receive  revela- 
tions after  a  certain  age,  not  because  the  book  of  revela- 
tion is  closed,  but  because  our  minds  are  no  longer  open. 
Young  men  see  visions,  and  old  men  dream  dreams. 
Visions  are  of  the  future,  dreams  of  the  past.     So  leave 


THE  TWO  COMMANDMENTS  45 

old  men  to  their  dreams,  Elisha,  and  their  comfortable 
beds,  but  go  thou  and  look  for  heavenly  visions.  And  the 
heavens  are  full  of  them,  to  those  who  have  eyes  to  see., 
There  are  two  commandments  which  ought  to  be  writ- 
ten over  the  door  of  the  man  who  lives  in  his  house  by 
the  side  of  the  road,  and  tries  to  be  a  friend  to  man,  and 
that  is  where  the  prophet's  tent  is  pitched.  He  lives  hard 
by  the  King's  highw^ay,  where  all  the  world  passes  by  in 
endless  procession.  God  goes  by  on  His  many  errands 
upon  earth,  and  also  Satan,  going  to  and  fro  in  the  land 
and  travelling  up  and  down  in  it.  Truth  travels  that  way, 
and  likewise  falsehood.  Wolves  go  by,  sometimes  in 
sheep's  clothing,  and  sometimes  in  their  own  garb.  And 
they  all  knock  at  the  prophet's  door,  for  shelter  over  night, 
or  sanctuary  from  the  pursuer.  And  over  the  door,  in- 
side and  outside,  where  both  he  and  they  can  see  them, 
should  be  these  two  commandments : 


GERS  :  FOR  IN  SO  DOING  SOME  HAVE  ENTERTAINED 
ANGELS  UNAWARES." 


This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment,  and  the  sec- 
ond is  like  unto  it. 


FOR  IN  so  DOING  SOME  HAVE  PRESENTED  ANGELS 
UNAWARES." 

To  these  two  commandments  let  me  add  a  word  of 
caution,  Elisha.  Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers, 
and  to  present  them  to  your  friends ;  but  be  careful  how 
you  do  it.    It  is  a  fine  art,  which  requires  great  grace  of 


46  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

speech  and  deftness  of  touch.  Many  a  new  truth  has 
been  queered  by  a  bad  introduction. 

On  these  two  commandments,  and  the  word  of  caution 
which  goes  with  them,  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
whether  the  strangers  be  wayfaring  truths  or  wayfaring 
men.  These  words  which  I  command  thee  this  day  shall 
be  in  thine  heart,  and  before  thine  eyes;  and  thou  shalt 
teach  them  diligently  to  those  who  come  after  thee,  as  I 
am  teaching  them  diligently  to  thee;  and  thou  shalt  talk 
of  them  when  thou  sittest  among  the  prophets,  and  when 
thou  walkest  in  the  way;  and  thou  shalt  write  them  on 
the  lintels  of  thy  door,  and  upon  thy  gates,  that  they  may 
be  before  thine  eyes  when  thou  goest  out,  and  when  thou 
comest  in.  To  welcome  strangers  into  his  house,  and 
present  them  to  those  who  come  to  seek  the  law  at  his 
mouth,  that  is  the  prophet's  whole  duty  to  the  future. 
Not  simply  to  receive  new  truth  himself — that  is  every 
man's  duty,  but  to  minister  it  to  others;  that  is  the 
prophet's  duty,  over  and  above  the  duty  of  other  men. 
And  it  is  a  great  privilege,  as  well  as  a  grave  responsibility. 
They  go  together,  as  they  generally  do  in  this  world. 

How  would  you  like  to  have  been  in  the  shoes  of  the 
Baptist,  Elisha,  and  to  have  had  the  chance  to  run  imme- 
diately before  Jesus,  and  prepare  the  minds  of  men  for 
his  coming?  Among  those  that  are  born  of  wome  i,  there 
has  not  been  a  greater  than  John,  nor  one  who  has  had  a 
greater  privilege.  And  yet  that  is  just  the  prophet's  place 
in  every  generation.  That  will  be  your  place  and  your 
rare  privilege,  Elisha,  your  everyday  duty  and  your  sole 
business  upon  earth,  to  run  before  your  Lord  in  His  com- 
ing, and  announce  Him  to  your  day  and  generation  in  its 
own  language  and  in  terms  of  its  own  thought!  And 
there  is  no  higher  calling  under  high  heaven.    You  should 


THE  TWO  COMMANDMENTS  4T 

be  aware  of  the  pressing  importance  and  commanding  dig- 
nity of  it,  lest  you  become  weary  and  faint  in  your  mind 
when  the  running  is  hard.  It  matters  not  whether  we  run 
before  Him  the  first  time,  or  the  last  time,  if  only  we  run, 
and  lift  up  our  voices  as  we  run.  Wherever  you  go,  what- 
ever gates  you  enter,  at  whatever  doors  you  knock,  it  will 
be  yours  to  bring  the  kingdom  of  God  nigh  to  men.  To 
every  man  you  meet  on  the  street,  or  greet  in  the  way, 
you  should  be  able  to  say,  as  Jesus  said  to  the  open-minded 
lawyer.  Thou  are  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven; 
it  is  near,  and  the  door  is  open.  Whether  they  heed  it  or 
not,  will  be  their  business;  whether  they  hear  it  or  not, 
will  be  yours. 

We  are  the  successors  of  the  apostles,  heirs  of  the  same 
calling  and  ministers  of  the  same  Gospel,  whether  we  can 
trace  our  ecclesiastical  descent  back  to  them  or  not.  Our 
business  is  the  same,  but  the  nature  of  it  is  different,  not 
because  the  Gospel  has  changed,  but  because  times  have 
changed.  It  was  their  duty  to  bring  a  new  Gospel  to  an 
old  age,  it  is  ours  to  bring  an  old  Gospel  to  a  new  age. 
It  was  an  old  world  in  which  Paul  lived,  and  to  which  he 
spake.  Its  day  was  dying  in  the  west.  Its  religion  was  a 
dead  letter,  its  philosophy  a  vain  quest,  its  ethics  a  lost 
cause.  The  eyes  that  looked  out  of  its  windows  were 
darkened,  and  the  sound  of  its  grinding  was  low.  Mourn- 
ers went  about  its  streets  without  comfort,  and  men  went 
to  their  long  home  without  hope.  And  the  Gospel  was 
new,  fresh  from  the  cross  and  its  triumph  over  the  grave. 
Everywhere  men  heard  it  for  the  first  time.  It  was  really 
news  to  them,  and  good  news  at  that.  Gladly  it  rang  in 
ears  long  used  to  the  platitudes  of  Pharisees  and  Sophists, 
and  gladly  they  heard  it,  whether  from  the  lips  of  Jesus 
or  of  Paul. 


48  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

It  is  a  new  age  in  which  you  live,  Elisha,  and  to  which 
you  shall  speak.  It  is  the  heir  of  all  those  that  have  gone 
before  it,  but  it  is  new.  It  has  burned  its  bridges  behind 
it.  Its  future  is  all  uncharted.  Old  things  have  passed 
away,  and  new  things  have  not  yet  come.  It  is  all  at  sea, 
and  a  stormy  sea  at  that.  And  you  will  preach  to  it  an  old 
Gospel.  Everywhere  you  go,  men  will  have  heard  it  be- 
fore, many  of  them  hundreds  of  times.  But  be  not  de- 
ceived, Elisha,  nor  magnify  your  office  any  the  less  on 
that  account.  The  Gospel  has  lost  none  of  its  power,  nor 
has  the  human  heart  lost  any  of  its  need.  Those  who  have 
lived  all  their  lives  within  sound  of  the  Gospel  are  just 
as  hopeless  without  it  as  those  who  have  never  heard  it 
before.  Indeed,  the  most  hopeless  man  in  all  the  world  is 
the  man  to  whom  the  good  news  has  become  an  old  story, 
and  yet  remains  an  idle  tale.  There  is  more  hope  of  a 
heathen  man  than  of  him.  And  yet  that  is  just  the  man 
you  will  have  to  reach,  Elisha — Gospel-hardened  from 
long  hearing  of  it.  To  make  the  old  story  fresh  to  that 
man,  and  bring  the  impact  of  its  message  to  bear  upon  his 
consciousness  at  a  different  angle,  that  is  the  hard  task 
of  him  who  is  called  upon  to  preach  an  old  Gospel  to  a 
new  age. 


CHAPTER  VI 


ANGELS    IN    DISGUISE 


*'Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers :  for  in  so  do- 
ing some  have  entertained  angels  unawares." 

We  may  not  know  who  spoke  those  words,  whether 
Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Barnabas;  but  we  know  of  whom 
they  were  spoken.  There  could  be  but  one.  We  recall 
at  once  the  old  pastoral  scene  at  Mamre — the  venerable 
patriarch  at  his  tent  door  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  his  wife 
within  preparing  the  midday  meal,  his  flocks  and  herds 
about  him  under  the  shelter  of  the  friendly  trees^  and 
before  him  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  stretching 
away  in  alternating  wady  and  meadow  to  the  distant  hills. 
Out  across  those  parched  uplands,  down  into  the  dry 
wadies,  over  the  hills  and  far  away,  ran  the  long  trails, 
bare  to  the  noonday  sun.  They  had  been  made  originally 
perhaps  by  the  wary  feet  of  wolf  and  jackal,  and  after 
them  had  come  sheep  and  cattle,  and  after  them  the  shep- 
herd and  his  dog,  and  after  them  caravans  of  camels,  mer- 
chants, and  wayfaring  men  from  many  lands.  The  old 
patriarch  himself  had  followed  those  trails  from  his  old 
home  in  the  east  to  this  distant  promised  land  by  the  sea. 

Worn  and  dusty  from  the  tramping  of  many  feet,  de- 
serted now  by  man  and  beast,  the  solitary  trails  lay  upon 
the  hills,  open  at  both  ends,  to  the  sea  on  the  one  hand, 
to  the  river  on  the  other.  All  sorts  of  travel  and  traffic 
came  and  went  there — shepherds  and  their  sheep  on  their 

49 


60  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

daily  journey  to  the  hills,  beasts  of  burden  on  their  way 
from  Damascus  to  Egypt,  wandering  Bedouins  upon  all 
manner  of  doubtful  errands  bent,  warlike  Arab  bands 
faring  forth  to  victory  or  defeat,  prodigals  going  out  to 
the  far  country  or  returning  from  it  in  shame.  And  hard 
by  those  solitary  trails,  under  the  friendly  tree,  before  his 
hospitable  tent,  sat  the  old  patriarch,  his  door  open  to  all 
comers,  whether  from  the  tents  of  Kedar  or  from  the 
presence  of  God.    No  one  was  turned  away  empty. 

And  to  that  tent  door,  to  the  shelter  of  that  friendly 
tree,  there  came  three  wayfaring  men.  Perhaps  there 
was  nothing  in  their  outward  appearance  to  indicate  that 
they  were  not  as  other  men.  They  asked  no  questions,  and 
told  no  tales.  They  wore  no  wings,  nor  carried  any  silver 
trumpets.  Were  they  kinsmen  from  the  old  home,  or 
strangers  from  the  new  land?  It  mattered  not.  They 
had  travelled  far,  and  were  foot-sore  and  weary.  The  old 
patriarch  ran  to  meet  them,  and  bowed  himself  to  the 
ground,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  east,  and  prayed 
them  to  accept  the  hospitality  of  his  tent.  They  demurred, 
but  he  would  not  be  denied.  To  that  end  they  had  come, 
and  for  that  purpose  he  had  pitched  his  tent  hard  by  those 
open  trails.  His  wife  prepared  of  the  best  of  the  tent, 
his  servants  brought  of  the  fatlings  of  the  flock,  and  the 
old  patriarch  himself  ministered  to  their  wants  with  his 
own  hands.  And  when  they  had  broken  bread  with  him, 
he  saw  them  on  their  way ;  and  as  they  were  taking  leave 
of  him,  it  was  somehow  borne  to  him,  how  we  may  not 
know,  that  these  three  were  wont  to  stand  in  the  presence 
of  God,  and  were  now  on  his  errands  upon  earth.  He 
had  entertained  three  of  God's  angels  unawares,  and  sent 
them  rested  and  refreshed  on  their  way. 

It  is  an  old  story,  Elisha,  but  it  is  not  out  of  date.    The 


ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE  51 

friendly  tree  still  stands  there  at  the  crossroads  of  the 
world,  and  underneath  it  is  the  place  of  the  prophet's 
tent.  Not  in  the  lowlands,  with  their  limited  range  of 
vision,  but  upon  the  heights,  where  the  earth  meets  the 
sky  in  rolling  lines  at  great  distances  and  the  long  trails 
lie  open  to  the  world's  end.  There  is  the  prophet's  watch, 
out  under  the  open  sky,  above  the  bare  backs  of  the  hills 
which  shut  in  other  men,  with  nothing  between  him  and 
God's  heavens  but  the  branches  of  his  friendly  tree,  noth- 
ing between  him  and  the  distant  hills  but  the  transparent 
air,  nothing  between  him  and  God's  messengers  but  the 
open  road.  His  tent  door  should  command  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  and  it  should  be  always  open.  **See, 
I  have  set  thee  a  watchman  upon  the  walls."  That  is 
God's  commission  to  the  prophet.  Not  down  in  the  street, 
where  men  toil  and  sweat,  but  upon  the  walls,  where  the 
vigils  of  the  day  and  night  are  kept.  Men  call  to  him 
from  the  street.  Watchman,  what  of  the  night?  And  he 
calls  back,  The  night  cometh,  and  also  the  day ;  the  night 
to  some,  the  day  to  others.  He  is  a  prophet  of  both  good 
and  evil,  because  both  are  there  within  his  ken.  The 
world  is  getting  better,  and  it  is  getting  worse — better  for 
some,  and  worse  for  others ;  and  the  prophet  must  declare 
what  he  sees. 

The  prophet  is  God's  watchman,  and  the  watchman's 
place  is  upon  the  walls.  Other  men  must  go  down  into  the 
street,  even  down  into  the  earth.  They  must  work  on  the 
ground,  and  under  the  ground.  They  must  go  down  to 
the  sea  in  ships,  and  down  into  the  valleys  to  plough  and 
sow  and  reap.  They  must  be  shut  within  four  walls. 
They  must  put  thatch  and  tile  between  them  and  the  open 
sky.  They  must  bend  over  benches,  and  pore  over  ponder- 
ous ledges.    They  must  tend  furnaces,  and  serve  tables, 


m  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

and  keep  the  many  wheels  of  industry  going.  They  can- 
not look  up  from  their  work.  If  they  do,  they  are  liable 
to  lose  a  finger,  or  a  foot,  or  their  life.  They  must  keep 
their  faces  ever  earthward,  and  go  about  with  their  eyes 
upon  the  ground.  Their  living,  even  their  very  life,  de- 
pends upon  it.  Who  is  to  announce  the  night  watches 
to  these  men,  and  keep  the  altar  fires  burning?  They 
cannot  do  it  themselves.  They  are  too  busy  with  the  fur- 
nace fires.  Some  must  watch  while  others  work,  and 
while  others  sleep,  and  while  others  play.  So  runs  the 
world  away.  And  that  is  the  business  of  God's  watch- 
man. He  is  not  here  to  buy  and  sell,  or  sow  and  reap. 
Not  that  He  is  too  good  to  do  either.  The  Master  worked 
with  His  hands  for  thirty  years,  and  to  the  last  day  of  His 
life  He  did  not  hesitate  to  take  a  hand  at  the  nets  when  it 
was  necessary ;  but  that  was  not  His  mission  upon  earth, 
and  it  is  not  the  prophet's  mission  in  any  age.  His  busi- 
ness is  to  watch;  and  anything  that  takes  him  from  the 
walls,  or  keeps  his  eyes  from  the  distant  hills,  turns  him 
aside  from  his  chief  end  upon  earth. 

And  every  man  has  his  place  of  business,  Elisha,  best 
suited  to  his  particular  kind  of  work.  The  market-place 
is  for  those  who  buy  and  sell,  and  the  open  field  for  those 
who  sow  and  reap.  The  fisherman's  place  is  by  the  sea, 
and  the  husbandman's  among  the  vines.  The  farmer  could 
not  do  his  business  on  the  sea,  nor  could  the  sailor  do 
his  on  the  land.  Each  would  be  at  a  disadvantage  at  the 
•other's  place  of  business,  and  yet  each  is  thoroughly  at 
home  in  his  own  place.  And  so  the  prophet  has  his  place 
of  business,  and  that  place  is  on  the  heights,  because  watch- 
ing can  better  be  done  there  than  anywhere  else.  It  is 
there  that  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  fall,  and  the  last  rays 
linger.     It  is  there  that  the  distant  sail  is  first  seen,  and 


ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE  53 

the  distant  ships  disappear  first  over  the  world's  edge.  It  is 
there  that  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before,  and 
leave  their  trail  behind.  It  is  there  that  the  air  is  clearest, 
and  the  outlook  unobstructed.  It  is  there  that  the  affairs 
of  man  seem  smallest,  and  the  affairs  of  God  largest; 
there  that  we  are  farthest  from  the  earth,  and  nearest  to 
the  stars. 

Pitch  your  tent  there,  Elisha,  high  above  the  puny  habi- 
tations of  men,  and  let  nothing  take  your  eyes  from  the 
open  road.  If  you  look  away  for  a  moment,  one  of  God's 
messengers  may  get  by  you  unobserved.  The  road  leads 
from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other,  and  it  is  so  much 
farther  to  the  world's  end  than  it  used  to  be,  and  there 
is  so  much  more  travel  on  the  road.  All  the  world  will 
pass  your  door,  and  God  will  pass  with  the  rest.  He  may 
be  on  His  way  to  Sodom,  or  on  His  way  to  Calvary.  He 
is  still  going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  upon  this  errand 
and  that,  and  He  does  not  always  travel  in  state.  Most 
often  not.  He  did  not  in  Jesus.  He  was  born  between 
two  camels,  and  died  between  two  thieves.  He  worked 
with  his  hands  at  a  humble  trade.  He  went  about  on 
foot,  unannounced  and  unattended.  His  followers  were 
for  the  most  part  unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  as  learning 
went  in  those  days.  He  consorted  with  publicans  and  sin- 
ners, the  disowned  and  disinherited  of  earth.  He  seemed 
to  be  more  at  home  with  them  than  he  was  with  scribes 
and  Pharisees.  He  went  to  their  houses,  and  ate  and  drank 
with  them,  much  to  the  scandal  of  respectable  society.  He 
put  on  no  airs  even  with  the  most  humble  folk.  Little 
children  were  not  afraid  of  him.  The  tragedy  of  Israel 
was  a  tragedy  of  mistaken  identity.  She  did  not  recognize 
her  Lord  when  He  came.  He  came  from  the  wrong  direc- 
tion, and  with  the  wrong  mien.    She  was  looking  for  Him 


54  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

to  come  out  of  the  heavens  with  power  and  great  glory, 
and  He  came  from  Nazareth  in  the  guise  of  a  carpenter.. 
He  was  hidden  from  her  eyes  because  they  were  holden 
with  the  glitter  and  glamour  of  earthly  things.  The  pride 
of  her  heart  deceived  her. 

And  the  tragedy  of  Israel  has  been  repeated  in  almost 
every  age  and  among  almost  every  people.  The  world 
does  not  recognise  its  great  souls  until  after  they  are  dead 
and  gone,  because  appearances  are  against  them,  and  the 
world  judges  by  appearances.  Most  all  prophets  have  been 
without  honour  in  their  own  country  and  in  their  own  life- 
time. We  garnish  the  sepulchers  of  the  prophets  which 
were  sent  to  our  fathers,  and  then  turn  around  and  stone 
those  which  are  sent  to  us.  That  has  been  the  story  of 
prophets  and  people  from  the  beginning — the  story  of 
Socrates  and  Athens,  the  story  of  Jesus  and  Jerusalem, 
the  story  of  Dante  and  Florence.  ''O  Jerusalem,  Jerusa- 
lem, if  thou  hadst  but  known  in  this  thy  day "    That 

is  the  eternal  lament  of  the  prophet  to  his  people.  God  is 
everlastingly  taking  the  world  by  surprise  because  He 
travels  in  disguise. 

Take  care,  Elisha,  that  you  be  not  deceived.  All  is  not 
gold  that  glitters.  The  world  will  masquerade  before 
your  eyes.  Wolves  will  pass  in  sheep's  clothing,  and  asses 
in  lions'  skins.  Heroes  will  go  by  in  homespun,  and 
rogues  in  purple  and  fine  linen.  Be  not  forgetful  to  take 
in  strangers,  but  be  careful  that  they  do  not  take  you  in. 
About  the  only  difference  between  a  rogue  and  an  honest 
man  to  the  naked  eye  is  that  the  rogue  can  put  on  the  best 
face.  Keep  your  eyes  open,  Elisha.  The  hands  may  be 
the  hands  of  Esau  when  the  voice  is  the  voice  of  Jacob. 
Judge  not  according  to  appearances.  They  are  deceitful 
above  all  things  and  desperately  misleading.    Man  looketh 


ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE  55 

upon  the  outward  appearance,  but  God  looketh  upon  the 
heart;  and  the  prophet  must  look  with  the  very  eyes  of 
God,  if  he  is  to  speak  with  God's  voice.  If  he  does  not 
see  clearly,  he  is  liable  to  speak  falsely.  He  must  be  able 
to  see  angels  where  others  see  only  ordinary  men,  and 
only  ordinary  men  where  others  see  angels.  The  Pharisees 
deceived  others,  but  Jesus  was  not  mocked.  He  saw 
through  them.  He  was  not  deceived  by  their  long  faces 
and  long  prayers.  He  saw  the  dead  men's  bones  on  the  in- 
side. He  preferred  an  honest  sinner  to  a  dishonest  saint 
any  day.  If  there  was  one  thing  He  could  not  endure  it 
was  cant  and  hollow  pretence.  He  condemned  it  in  words 
which  burn  and  blister  to  this  day. 

The  prophet  should  have  not  only  range  of  vision,  but 
penetration  as  well.  He  should  look  far  out  upon  life, 
and  also  far  into  it.  He  may  not  be  able  to  foretell  the 
future  with  exactness  of  date,  but  he  should  be  able  to 
read  the  meaning  of  the  present  with  unerring  vision. 
Whatever  knowledge  of  distant  events  he  may  have  will 
come  from  a  wise  understanding  of  those  which  are  near 
by.  Insight  is  the  father  of  foresight.  The  future  is  but 
a  continuation  of  the  present,  and  the  only  way  to  fore- 
cast it  with  any  degree  of  accuracy  is  to  project  the  pres- 
ent into  it.  All  else  is  but  idle  conjecture.  The  world 
is  not  a  still  lake,  but  a  running  stream,  and  there  is  a 
main  current  in  the  stream.  If  the  prophet  fails  to  sense 
the  direction  of  current  events,  his  forecast  of  the  future 
will  go  wide  of  the  mark.  And  the  main  current  of  events 
does  not  always  appear  upon  the  surface.  There  are 
eddies  and  counter  currents.  Straws  tell  which  way  the 
wind  is  blowing,  but  they  do  not  tell  what  kind  of  a  wind 
it  is.  It  may  be  only  a  local  breeze,  or  it  may  be  one  of 
God's  high  winds  which  blow  from  one  end  of  the  earth 


56  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

to  the  other.  Local  breezes  vary  from  day  to  day.  They 
turn  about  continually  in  their  circuits.  They  do  not  get 
us  anywhere.  They  blow  us  west  to-day,  and  back  east 
to-morrow. 

The  prophet  must  not  be  blown  about  by  local  breezes. 
He  must  set  his  sail  to  the  great  trade  winds  which  blow 
ever  in  the  same  direction,  and  their  course  is  not  indicated 
by  straws.  He  must  look  for  other  signs,  and  observe 
them  more  closely,  if  he  is  to  keep  his  bearings.  It  is  here 
that  his  insight  comes  in  and  determines  his  foresight. 
He  must  be  able  to  see  into  things  and  through  them  to 
what  lies  beyond  them.  He  must  see  the  face  behind 
the  mask,  the  kernel  within  the  husk.  Nature  does  not 
put  her  most  precious  treasures  on  the  outside.  She  is 
careful  not  to  cast  her  pearls  before  swine.  She  hides  the 
tree  under  the  bark,  the  seed  inside  of  the  fruit,  the  oyster 
within  the  shell.  God  does  the  same  with  his  heavenly 
treasures.  He  puts  them  in  earthen  vessels.  He  some- 
times clothes  his  great  souls  in  homely  bodies,  and  sets 
his  great  events  in  mean  surroundings.  The  civilised 
world  dates  its  history  from  an  event  which  took  place  in 
a  stable.  Before  that  event  all  fingers  point  forward, 
since  that  event  all  fingers  point  backward.  It  is  the  silent 
witness  of  the  ages  to  the  fact  that  in  that  event  the  hu- 
man race,  all  unconsciously  at  the  time,  passed  the  turn- 
ing point  in  its  career.  We  are  not  sure  just  what  hap- 
pened there,  or  how  it  happened;  but,  whatever  it  was, 
we  are  convinced  that  something  took  place  there  that 
December  night  under  those  Syrian  stars  that  will  never 
take  place  again  in  the  history  of  this  world.  And  so  we 
put  our  fingers  there  upon  that  elect  point  of  time,  and 
count  backward  and  forward,  to  the  things  which  hap- 
pened before  and  the  things  which  have  happened  since. 


ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE  57 

And  yet  the  world  was  not  wakened  from  its  slumbers  to 
witness  the  event.  Herod  slept  on  in  his  palace,  and  the 
Roman  guard  in  their  tower,  only  a  stone's  throw  away, 
utterly  unaware  that  a  babe  was  born  that  night  who 
would  eventually  turn  their  whole  world  upside  down. 
The  camels  chewed  their  cuds  quietly  by,  and  looked  on 
with  unknowing  eyes.  Never  a  bugle  sounded,  and  not 
even  a  cock  crowed.  There  was  a  song  on  the  air,  and  a 
light  in  the  sky,  but  no  one  saw  it  or  heard  it  but  a  few 
simple  shepherds  out  upon  the  hills.  Beware,  EHsha,  lest 
God  get  into  His  world  when  you  are  fast  asleep,  and 
you  go  on  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

The  prophet's  watch  is  on  the  frontier  of  life,  where 
great  men  are  in  the  making  and  mighty  movements  are 
taking  shape ;  and  it  is  just  there  that  the  course  of  events 
is  so  deceiving.  Progress  is  from  the  ground  up.  It  en- 
ters the  horn  at  the  little  end,  and  comes  out  at  the  big 
end.  Retrogression  goes  the  other  way.  And  the  world's 
attention  is  fixed  upon  the  big  end  of  the  horn,  because 
there  is  so  much  more  noise  there.  Big  men  and  big  events 
get  in  at  the  other  end  while  its  back  is  turned.  That 
is  why  it  so  often  mistakes  the  course  of  events,  and 
takes  the  wrong  end  of  the  road.  God  generally  begins 
in  a  small  way.  He  did  at  Bethlehem.  All  great  for- 
ward movements  proceed  from  small  beginnings  to  large 
proportions.  The  world's  great  rivers  begin  in  little 
mountain  streams.  Many  of  its  great  books  have  been 
written  in  garrets  and  prison  cells.  Most  all  of  its  great 
movements  and  most  all  of  its  great  men  have  had  humble 
origins.  A  Galilean  carpenter  spoke  to  a  few  fishermen 
at  the  Jordan,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  had  commenced 
upon  earth.  A  handful  of  Pilgrims  land  upon  a  barren 
rock,  and  a  great  nation  is  born  in  the  west. 


58  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

It  is  this  misleading  character  of  the  course  of  events 
that  tests  the  prophet's  eyes  so  severely.  He  must  have 
the  rare  gift  of  knowing  what  God  is  about  when  He  be- 
gins. Any  fool  can  tell  what  He  has  done  when  it  is 
finished.  The  prophet  must  anticipate  the  course  of 
events,  if  he  is  not  to  be  the  hero  of  a  lost  cause.  Judg- 
ment should  begin  at  the  house  of  God,  and  with  the 
man  of  God.  Every  great  work  of  God,  and  every  great 
hope  of  man  should  find  him  first.  And  they  will  if  he 
is  in  his  watch-tower  where  he  belongs.  It  should  be  his 
face,  and  not  another's,  that  catches  the  first  rays  of  the 
rising  sun;  his  voice,  and  not  another's,  that  calls  the 
first  watch  of  the  morning;  his  hand,  and  not  another's, 
that  lights  the  altar  fires  of  a  new  day.  He  is  God's 
herald  of  the  dawn,  and  woe  to  him  if  it  find  him  asleep 
on  his  watch. 

Not  that  the  prophet  can  keep  his  eyes  always  on  the 
stars.  His  feet  are  upon  the  earth,  at  the  same  time  that 
his  head  is  in  the  air,  and  there  are  snares  and  pitfalls  in 
the  way,  for  the  feet  of  prophets  as  well  as  for  those  of 
other  men.  He  must  watch  where  he  is  going,  if  he  is 
not  to  fall  in  a  ditch.  But  it  is  much  more  important  that 
he  watch  where  God  is  going.  His  feet  are  upon  the 
earth,  at  the  same  time  that  His  head  is  in  the  air,  and 
there  are  snares  and  pitfalls  in  the  way,  for  the  feet  of 
God  no  less  than  for  those  of  men.  And  the  prophet  does 
not  have  to  neglect  his  own  way  to  see  God's  way.  His 
way  and  God's  way  are  one,  because  God's  way  should 
be  his  way ;  and  he  can  best  find  out  his  own  way  by  dis- 
covering God's  way  and  following  it.  He  should  seek 
that  by  all  means,  and  when  he  has  found  it,  follow  it 
at  all  costs. 

Seeing  then  that  such  is  the  prophet's  place  among  men, 


ANGELS  IN  DISGUISE  59 

such  his  peculiar  business  upon  earth,  what  manner  of 
man  should  he  be,  and  what  should  be  his  peculiar  gifts? 
Four  things  he  must  have,  if  he  is  to  see  for  men,  clearly 
and  concisely,  and  a  fifth,  if  he  is  to  speak  for  God,  fear- 
lessly and  unflinchingly — a  seeing  eye,  an  open  mind,  an 
understanding  heart,  a  willing  will,  and  a  tongue  that 
fears  only  to  speak  a  He. 


CHAPTER  VII 


A    SEEING    EYE 


We  have  five  senses,  and  we  use  all  of  them  more  or 
less  in  our  daily  business ;  but  upon  which  one  should  we 
place  the  emphasis?  Which  one  is  most  useful  to  the 
prophet  in  his  business  ? 

There  is  no  doubt  about  it,  Elisha.  God  does  not  leave 
us  in  the  dark.  He  puts  his  finger  upon  it  at  once.  The 
first  thing  He  does  to  a  prophet  is  to  test  his  eyes. 
"Amos,  what  seest  thou?"  *'A  basket  of  summer  fruit/' 
"What  kind  of  fruit,  Amos — good  or  bad?"  "Bad,  Lord, 
very  bad.''  "That  will  do,  Amos;  go  and  speak  to  the 
house  of  Israel,  and  show  them  their  sins." 

That  is  the  way  the  shepherd  of  Tekoa  got  his  com- 
mission. Not  by  the  traditions  of  men,  or  the  laying  on 
of  hands,  but  by  grace  of  his  eyes.  He  was  not  a  prophet, 
or  the  son  of  a  prophet,  as  prophets  went  in  those  days, 
or  as  they  go  in  these  days,  for  that  matter,  Elisha. 

He  had  never  seen  inside  of  the  schools.  He  held  no 
credentials  from  synagogue  or  temple.  He  was  only  a 
simple  herdsman  and  gatherer  of  wild  figs;  but  he  could 
see,  though  Abraham  was  ignorant  of  him,  and  Israel 
acknowledged  him  not.  He  had  lived  out  in  the  open 
with  the  sheep  and  the  stars  and  God,  and  had  kept  the 
dust  out  of  his  eyes.  He  knew  sin  when  he  saw  it,  and 
was  not  afraid  to  call  it  by  its  right  name;  and  that  was 
more  than  all  whole  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices. 

60 


A  SEEING  EYE  61 

The  prophet's  chief  and  choice  possession  is  his  eyes. 
They  are  the  windows  of  his  soul,  and  the  open  gate  of 
heaven.  Vision,  EHsha,  is  the  supreme  prophetic  gift. 
Nothing  can  avail  for  the  lack  of  it,  nothing  atone  for 
the  loss  of  it.  God  will  accept  no  substitutes.  It  is  the 
one  thing  needful.  What  scent  is  to  the  hound,  what 
hearing  is  to  the  fox,  what  wing  power  is  to  the  eagle, 
that  sight  is  to  the  prophet.  It  may  be  insight,  or  it  may 
be  foresight.  They  are  not  two  gifts,  but  two  sides  of 
the  same  gift;  and  so  forthtelling  and  foretelling  are  but 
two  functions  of  the  same  office.  Not  eloquence,  or  zeal, 
or  even  faith,  but  vision  is  that  which  sets  the  prophet 
apart  from  other  men.  That  is  the  hand  of  God  upon 
him.  Others  may  have  to  walk  by  faith,  but  he  should 
walk  by  sight;  not  the  sight  of  his  eyes,  but  the  sight  of 
his  heart.  He  is  not  a  table-server,  though  he  may  sit  at 
tables,  or  even  serve  them  upon  occasion.  He  is  not  a 
time-server,  though  he  lives  in  certain  times  and  should  be 
contemporary  with  them.  He  is  not  an  orator,  though  he 
may  speak  with  an  eloquent  tongue ;  he  is  not  a  scholar, 
though  he  may  have  all  knowledge  and  understand  all 
mysteries;  he  is  not  a  philanthropist,  though  he  may  be- 
stow all  his  goods  to  feed  the  poor;  he  is  not  a  martyr, 
though  he  may  give  his  body  to  be  burned;  he  is  not  a 
pastor,  though  he  may  have  the  care  of  souls.  He  is  at 
heart  a  seer,  and  whatever  zeal  or  eloquence  or  knowl- 
edge he  may  have  is  useful  only  in  so  far  as  it  aids  and 
abets  his  eyes.  If  his  other  possessions  obstruct  his 
vision,  or  deflect  it  from  its  true  course,  they  are  in  his 
way,  and  he  were  better  off  without  them. 

You  can  make  a  conventional  minister  out  of  a  frock 
coat  and  a  college  curriculum,  but  it  takes  more  than  that 
to  make  a  prophet.     A  college  may  help  him,  or  it  may 


62  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

hinder  him,  but  it  can  never  make  him.  Only  God  can  do 
that.  Are  prophets  born  or  made  ?  Neither,  EHsha.  They 
are  called.  Born  before  they  are  called,  and  made  after  it. 
They  may  be  called  from  their  mother's  womb,  or  from 
the  catching  of  fish  or  the  keeping  of  sheep ;  but  they  are 
called,  and  hold  their  office  only  by  grace  of  their  calling. 
If  a  prophet  is  called  of  God,  let  men  take  care  that  they 
keep  hands  off  him;  if  he  is  not  called,  let  them  beware 
how  they  lay  hands  on  him.  Whatever  is  done  without 
him  should  be  only  a  seal  and  a  sign  of  what  has  been 
done  within  him.  Some  ministers  are  prophets,  and  some 
prophets  are  ministers.  The  two  do  not  always  go  to- 
gether. More's  the  pity.  Clothes  do  not  make  the  man. 
No  more  does  culture  make  the  prophet.  It  takes  the 
breath  of  God,  and  the  eye  of  the  eagle.  Did  you  ever 
examine  an  eagle's  eye,  Elisha?  There's  a  far  away  look 
there  in  their  clear  depths,  not  unlike  that  in  the  light  of 
the  distant  stars.  It  comes  of  long  looking  from  great 
heights  over  the  bare  backs  of  mountains,  where  conti- 
nents end  and  rivers  run  out  to  the  sea.  You  will  find  the 
same  look  in  the  eyes  of  God's  prophets,  and  they  come 
by  it  in  the  same  way. 

Can  you  see,  Elisha?  That  is  what  God  wants  to  know, 
and  that  is  what  men  want  to  know  when  they  come  to 
seek  the  law  at  your  mouth.  Men  do  not  care  to  consult 
a  blind  oracle.  Can  you  see  the  dawn  before  it  comes? 
Can  you  see  the  cloud  before  it  rises  above  the  horizon? 
Can  you  hear  the  birds  singing  before  they  leave  their 
southern  home?  Can  you  see  things  before  they  arrive? 
That  is  the  question.  Anybody  can  see  things  which  are 
in  sight,  but  you  must  be  able  to  see  them  before  they  are 
in  sight.  Others  have  eyes  for  coming  events,  but  the 
prophet  must  have  eyes  for  the  shadows  which  they  cast 


A  SEEING  EYE  63 

before.  If  you  are  to  endure  the  hardships  of  the  visible, 
you  must  be  able  tO'  see  Him  who  is  invisible.  If  you  are 
to  be  brave  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  when  the  hearts  of 
other  men  are  failing  them  for  fear,  you  must  be  able  to 
see  the  unseen  hosts  of  the  Lord  round  about  the  armies 
of  Israel.  If  you  are  not  to  be  scared  by  things,  you  must 
be  able  to  see  through  them.  The  prophet  must  see  God 
face  to  face,  and  he  must  be  able  to  see  men,  not  as  they 
seem  to  be,  but  as  they  really  are.  He  must  not  be  deceived 
by  the  masks  which  they  wear.  Would  you  know  a  heav- 
enly vision,  Elisha,  if  you  were  to  meet  it  in  the  road? 
What  is  more,  would  you  know  it  if  you  were  to  see  it 
in  a  human  face?  Perhaps  that  is  v^here  most  heavenly 
visions  appear.  The  heavens  will  open  to  you  rarely, 
Elisha,  but  the  faces  of  men  are  always  open  to  you.  Can 
you  tell  when  you  see  a  human  soul  look  out  of  its  window 
in  distress  ?  It  is  well  to  be  able  to  read  Greek  and  Latin, 
and  know  what  men  thought  a  thousand  years  ago ;  but  it 
is  far  better  to  be  able  to  read  human  faces,  and  know 
what  men  are  thinking  now.  The  eyes  of  men,  Elisha, 
what  secrets  they  tell  to  him  who  has  a  seeing  eye. 

Not  clearness  of  title,  but  clearness  of  eye  is  what  God 
wants;  not  breadth  of  phylacteries,  but  breadth  of  sym- 
pathy ;  not  unbroken  apostolic  succession,  but  unobstructed 
prophetic  vision.  Not  that  a  prophet  should  despise  apos- 
tolic succession.  Nor  should  he  be  satisfied  with  it.  The 
Pharisees  traced  their  descent  back  to  Abraham,  and  could 
read  their  titles  clear  to  Moses'  seat.  They  had  enlarged 
the  borders  of  their  garments  until  there  was  hardly  room 
for  them  to  pass  on  the  streets,  more  especially  since  they 
required  such  a  large  margin  between  them  and  other  men. 
But  they  were  as  blind  as  bats.  They  did  not  know  the 
Son  of  God  when  they  saw  him.     They  actually  mistook 


64  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

him  for  a  son  of  Satan.  If  the  Hght  that  is  in  a  prophet 
be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness.  Bhndness  is  the 
besetting  danger  of  prophets,  and  it  is  the  unpardonable 
sin.  Beware  of  it,  Ehsha.  God  can  forgive  anything  but 
that.  Some  of  his  prophets  have  been  slow  of  speech,  and 
he  has  borne  with  them.  Some  of  them  have  been  un- 
learned and  ignorant  men,  and  he  has  been  patient  with 
their  plodding  wits.  But  a  blind  prophet  he  cannot  abide. 
It  is  a  sad  day  when  Balaam's  ass  sees  the  heavenly  vision 
before  he  does — a  sad  day  for  Balaam,  and  a  sadder  day 
for  the  ass.  God  have  mercy  on  the  beast  that  is  ridden 
by  a  blind  prophet.  He  is  liable  to  ride  it  upon  a  flaming 
sword  or  headlong  over  a  precipice  at  any  moment;  not 
because  he  is  cruel,  but  because  he  is  blind.  And  God 
have  mercy  on  the  people  who  are  led  by  a  blind  prophet. 
He  is  liable  to  lead  them  straight  to  destruction  with  the 
best  of  intentions.  If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  it  is  more 
than  likely  that  they  will  all  together  go  into  the  ditch. 

That  is  what  happened  to  Israel.  She  was  misled  to 
her  doom.  It  was  her  misfortune  that  she  had  blind 
leaders  in  the  day  of  her  visitation.  It  was  not  the  com- 
mon people  who  killed  Jesus.  Not  the  rank  and  file  of 
Israel.  They  heard  him  gladly,  and  gladly  would  they 
have  made  him  their  king — the  wrong  kind  of  a  king,  to 
be  sure,  but  the  only  kind  that  they  knew  anything  about. 
They  misunderstood  him  and  the  nature  of  his  kingdom, 
but  they  were  ready  to  follow  him  to  the  world's  end. 
They  were  frightened  away  from  him  at  the  last,  like 
sheep  when  their  shepherd  is  smitten,  but  they  were  never 
unfaithful  to  him  at  heart.  It  was  the  Pharisees  who 
hounded  him  to  his  death,  and  who  gave  themselves  no 
rest  day  or  night  until  they  had  put  him  on  the  cross.  It 
was  not  Galilee  that  cried  for  his  blood ;  it  was  Jerusalem, 


A  SEEING  EYE  65 

and  it  was  an  inspired  cry.  The  scribes  and  Pharisees 
were  behind  it.  They  put  it  into  the  people's  mouth  to 
ask  for  Barabbas  instead  of  Jesus.  The  common  people 
asked  for  a  king,  and  the  Pharisees  gave  them  a  thief. 
Israel  did  not  wantonly  disown  her  Lord.  She  was  be- 
trayed into  it  by  those  who  ought  to  have  known  better. 
She  took  the  wrong  road  at  the  parting  of  the  ways,  and 
has  been  a  wandering  Jew  ever  since ;  and  she  took  it  be- 
cause her  leaders  told  her  it  was  the  right  road. 

It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  misdirect  a  people,  Elisha,  arid 
make  them  miss  their  appointed  way  and  their  appointed 
mission  upon  earth.  It  is  that  which  lays  such  a  weight 
of  responsibihty  upon  the  prophet's  shoulders.  He  is  the 
watchman  upon  the  walls.  He  w^atches  while  other  men 
sleep.  The  world  looks  out  upon  the  future  through  the 
windows  of  his  soul,  and  he  should  see  to  it  that  they  are 
kept  perfectly  clear.  The  pathway  into  the  future  should 
be  kept  open  at  all  costs.  Wherever  the  windows  of 
heaven  are  open,  wherever  a  ray  of  light  is  shining 
through,  wherever  new  facts  are  being  brought  to  light, 
there  should  the  prophet  be  with  his  clear  eyes,  looking  if 
haply  God  has  vouchsafed  a  new  truth  to  the  children  of 
men.  Not  that  he  should  be  a  specialist  in  every  depart- 
ment of  human  knowledge.  He  cannot  be.  Life  is  too 
short,  and  his  work  is  too  pressing,  and  the  field  of  knowl- 
edge is  too  vast.  If  he  knows  the  whole  counsel  of  God 
for  his  generation,  he  will  not  have  time  for  much  else. 
He  may  have  time  for  a  hobby,  but  not  for  a  specialty, 
outside  of  his  own  particular  field.  There's  a  difference, 
Elisha.  A  man  mounts  a  hobby,  and  rides  it  whither  he 
will;  but  a  specialty  is  liable  to  mount  the  man,  and  ride 
him  whither  it  will.  It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the 
world  who  is  in  the  saddle.     It  is  permitted  a  prophet 


ee  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

that  he  should  have  a  hobby,  but  he  should  not  let  it  take 
the  bit  in  its  teeth  and  run  away  with  him.  The  prophet 
may  leave  his  work  to  refresh  his  spirit  with  other  things, 
but  only  that  he  may  return  to  it  with  renewed  vigour. 
The  Lord  is  a  jealous  God.  He  will  have  no  other  gods 
before  Him,  or  even  beside  Him.  He  will  not  share  His 
kingdom  with  another.  A  house  divided  against  itself  can- 
not stand.  Few  men  can  do  more  than  one  thing  well.  Paul 
could  not.  No  more  can  you,  Elisha.  No  man  can  serve 
two  masters,  or  give  his  -whole  heart  to  two  things  at  one 
and  the  same  time.  One  or  the  other  is  bound  to  suffer. 
He  must  choose  between  them.  The  prophet's  eye  should 
be  single,  that  his  whole  soul  may  be  full  of  light. 

To  every  man  his  own  particular  work,  and  to  every 
work  its  own  particular  worker.  The  work  of  the  prophet 
is  one,  and  the  work  of  the  scientist  is  another.  Not  that 
there  should  be  any  conflict  between  them.  They  are 
workers  together.  The  times  are  out  of  joint  somewhere 
when  the  paths  of  any  two  of  God's  workers  cross  each 
other.  They  should  run  parallel,  not  contrary  the  one  to 
the  other.  One  worker  should  supplement  the  work  of 
the  other,  but  neither  can  ever  take  the  place  of  the  other. 
It  is  one  thing  to  discover  the  origin  of  life,  and  quite  an- 
othef  thing  to  give  it  direction  and  lofty  aspiration. 
Don't  leave  the  Gospel  to  serve  tables,  Elisha,  whatever 
may  be  on  them,  or  to  dig  for  fossils,  or  to  experiment 
with  radium.  Leav^  that  to  others.  But  go  thou  and 
preach  the  kingdom  of  God.  Those  who  dig  for  fossils 
are  liable  to  become  fossilised.  What  the  world  needs  is 
not  a  walking  encyclopedia,  but  a  living  voice  speaking 
for  God  to  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation. 

The  prophet  may  not  engage  in  the  experiments  of 
others,  but  he  should  not  be  blind  to  them,  or  indifferent 


A  SEEING  EYE  6T 

to  their  results.  He  must  keep  to  his  own  particular  task, 
but  that  does  not  mean  that  he  should  be  indifferent  to  the 
tasks  of  others.  He  should  rejoice  in  the  fruit  of  other 
men's  labours.  He  cannot  plough  in  all  fields,  but  he  can 
enter  into  the  labours  of  others  and  make  them  supplement 
his  owTi.  He  cannot  go  on  every  voyage  of  discovery, 
but  he  can  speed  the  discoverer  on  his  way  and  welcome 
him  back  home,  and  rejoice  with  him  in  the  new  worlds 
which  he  has  discovered.  He  should  look  up  from  his 
work  to  see  what  other  workers  are  doing.  He  should 
be  among  the  first  to  see  new  truth  when  it  is  brought  to 
light.  It  should  be  visible  to  him  the  moment  it  appears 
above  ground,  because  his  watch-tower  should  command 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  and  his  clear  eye 
should  scan  narrowly  everything  in  sight.  He  should 
never  be  caught  napping  by  a  new  discovery. 

By  all  means,  the  prophet  should  be  the  first  to  see  the 
possible  bearing  of  a  new  truth  upon  his  own  particular 
field,  and  that  is  something  which  he  has  too  often  been 
the  last  to  see.  Many  of  the  great  discoveries  which  have 
enlarged  the  boundaries  of  the  Church,  and  have  added 
materially  to  the  furniture  of  her  life,  have  been  forced 
upon  her  at  the  point  of  the  sword;  and  the  sword  has 
entered  into  the  souls  of  those  who  brought  the  truth  to 
her  'doors.  She  has  not  always  thanked  them  for  their 
pains.  Quite  the  contrary  sometimes.  She  has  made 
them  pay  dearly  for  her  enlightenment.  She  has  mistaken 
the  new-comer  for  an  enemy,  when  in  reality  it  was  a 
friend  in  disguise.  She  has  received  the  truth,  not  gladly 
but  grudgingly,  over  her  own  protest  and  against  her 
will ;  and  very  often  it  has  turned  out  that  a  Church  con- 
vinced against  her  will  is  of  the  same  opinion  still.  She 
insisted  upon  believing  that  the  earth  v/as  flat,  long  after 


68  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

it  was  proved  to  be  otherwise.  Could  not  she  see  that  it 
was  flat?  And  yet  she  has  discovered  that  a  round  earth 
is  much  better  suited  to  her  purpose  than  a  flat  one.  What 
is  her  business  in  the  world?  To  bring  the  kingdom  of 
God  upon  earth.  But  you  cannot  put  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  upon  a  flat  earth.  There  is  no  way  around  to 
your  brother  on  the  other  side. 

And  so  with  the  Copernican  astronomy.  It  had  to 
fight  for  its  life  against  prejudice  and  preconceived  opin- 
ion and  intrenched  interest ;  and  yet  it  has  pushed  the  sky- 
line of  the  Church  out  immeasurably  in  all  directions. 
The  universe  has  been  a  different  place  since  our  little 
planet  was  dethroned  from  the  centre  of  it,  and  it  will 
never  be  the  same  again.  For  better,  for  worse,  we  have 
been  turned  out  of  doors  among  the  stars;  and  we  will 
eventually  make  ourselves  at  home  among  them.  And  so 
with  this  new  discovery  of  the  process  of  creation;  call 
it  evolution,  or  what  you  will.  The  Church  has  fought  it 
with  hammer  and  tongs,  contesting  every  inch  of  ground 
which  she  has  given ;  and  yet  who  knows  but  that  it  Avill 
turn  out  greatly  to  her  advantage,  when  it  has  been  purged 
of  the  excrescences  which  cling  to  all  new  discoveries  and 
properly  assimilated  into  her  thought?  There  was  not 
room  enough  for  the  future  in  the  old  Ptolemaic  universe, 
and  there  is  not  time  enough  for  the  past  according  to  the 
old  chronology. 

And  who  have  been  the  leaders  in  this  long,  running 
fight  against  these  new  discoveries  ?  Not  always,  but  too 
often,  they  have  been  found  among  the  prophets  whom 
God  has  set  to  be  watchmen  upon  the  walls.  To  their 
shame  be  it  spoken.  The  race  has  had  to  fare  forward 
against  the  combined  weight  of  those  who  ought  to  have 
been  its  forerunners.     Its  progress  has  been  blocked  upon 


A  SEEING  EYE  69 

the  frontier  by  those  who  were  put  there  for  the  express 
purpose  of  keeping  the  pathway  into  the  future  open. 
They  have  turned  from  the  blazing  of  trails  to  the  build- 
ing of  fences  against  further  progress.  Who  is  so  blind 
as  the  prophet  who  will  not  see  the  truth,  who  will  not 
look  at  new  light  because  it  hurts  his  eyes,  who  is  fright- 
ened by  the  very  things  he  is  set  to  see,  who  mistakes  the 
turn  in  the  road  for  the  end  of  the  journey  and  refuses 
to  go  any  farther  ? 

Perhaps  it  is  just  as  well  that  the  truth  has  to  fight  for 
its  Hfe.  There  is  no  especial  reason  why  it  should  be  ex- 
empted from  the  general  struggle  of  life  in  which  all  liv- 
ing things  engage.  That  is  the  way  the  chaff  is  winnowed 
from  the  wheat,  and  the  truth  is  distinguished  from  error. 
But  it  is  unfortunate,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  when  its  foes 
are  those  of  its  own  household. 

This  is  rather  humble  pie  for  prophets,  Elisha ;  but  we 
might  as  well  eat  it  and  have  done  with  it.  There  is  no 
use  blinking  the  facts  of  history.  There  they  are  before 
our  eyes,  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  our  faces.  It  is  one  of 
those  honest  confessions  which  are  supposed  to  be  good 
for  our  souls,  though  rather  humiliating  to  our  pride  as 
well  as  derogatory  to  our  calling. 

But  such  things  ought  not  to  be,  Elisha.  The  prophet 
should  not  be  a  mere  camp-follower.  He  is  a  pathfinder, 
by  the  very  nature  of  his  office ;  that,  or  nothing.  If  he 
cannot  keep  step  with  God,  he  should  at  least  get  out  of  the 
way  of  those  who  would.  The  ancient  shepherd  went  before 
his  sheep,  not  after  them;  and,  by  his  own  word,  Jesus 
came  in  the  likeness  of  a  shepherd.  He  went  on  before  his 
disciples,  to  Jerusalem,  to  Gethsemane,  to  Calvary.  And 
He  is  still  going  on  before  them.  And  He  calls  men  to 
come  after  Him,  and  lead  others  in  the  way  of  His  steps. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


AN  OPEN  MIND 


We  must  not  only  have  eyes,  but  we  must  use  them, 
EHsha,  if  we  are  to  get  the  full  benefit  of  them.  Other- 
wise, we  might  as  well  not  have  them,  for  all  the  good 
they  will  do  us.  It  is  to  the  open-eyed  man  that  the  vision 
comes.  Paul's  companions  on  the  road  to  Damascus  did 
not  see  anything.  They  only  heard  a  noise,  and  they  did 
not  know  what  that  meant.  God  cannot  get  into  a  closed 
house. 

There  was  no  open  vision  in  Israel  in  the  days  of 
Samuel,  and  the  people  perished  for  lack  of  it.  They  had 
eyes,  but  they  saw  not.  The  heavens  were  shut  up  over 
their  heads.  They  had  lost  the  distant  view.  They  had 
grown  short-sighted  from  too  much  looking  at  things 
that  were  near  by.  They  had  no  foresight  into  the  fu- 
ture, nor  any  insight  into  the  present.  We  are  not  sur- 
prised to  find  that,  when  they  came  to  choose  a  king,  they 
took  the  biggest  man  in  sight.  That  was  just  like  them. 
They  thought  there  was  no  more  to  a  man  than  what  they 
could  see  with  the  naked  eye.  Even  Samuel  came  very 
near  making  the  same  mistake.  God  had  to  warn  him  to 
beware  of  outward  appearance.  It  sometimes  deceives  the 
very  elect. 

There  was  no  open  vision  in  the  days  of  Jesus,  and  the 
Pharisees  killed  him  for  lack  of  it.  They  thought  they 
were  doing  God  service.    That  was  the  pity  of  it.     It  is 

70 


AN  OPEN  MIND  71 

not  enough  that  we  be  sincere,  EHsha.  We  may  be  sin- 
cerely mistaken.  Their  Messiah  was  just  as  dead,  and 
stayed  dead  just  as  long,  as  if  they  had  killed  him  with 
their  eyes  open.  Thinking  does  not  always  make  things 
so.  It  is  necessary  that  we  think  in  the  right  direction; 
otherwise,  the  more  we  think,  the  farther  we  get  from 
the  truth.  We  may  travel  toward  God,  or  we  may  travel 
away  from  Him.  It  depends  upon  which  end  of  the  road 
we  take.  Roads  have  two  ends,  and  they  lead  in  opposite 
directions.  We  must  keep  open  house,  and  be  sure  that 
our  windows  are  open  toward  Jerusalem,  if  we  are  to 
think  God's  thoughts  after  Him. 

What  do  we  mean  by  an  open  mind  ?  It  is  the  antithe- 
sis of  a  closed  mind.  But  what  is  a  closed  mind?  Per- 
haps we  can  best  illustrate  by  means  of  the  open  and 
closed  shop.  What  do  we  understand  by  a  closed  shop? 
It  is  a  shop  that  is  closed  to  nonunion  labour.  Men  get 
together  and  organise  labour  into  unions,  and  set  the  seal 
of  the  organisation  upon  it,  and  then  close  the  shop 
against  all  else.  The  only  access  to  the  shop  is  by  way 
of  the  union.  No  one  else  need  apply.  The  open  shop, 
on  the  other  hand,  does  not  recognise  any  union.  It  is 
open  to  all  labour  without  distinction.  It  does  not  require 
the  union  label.  All  men  are  welcome  to  come  and  earn 
their  living  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  The  union  does 
not  help  them  to  get  a  job,  nor  does  it  keep  them  from 
getting  it.    They  must  stand  or  fall  upon  their  own  merit. 

And  so  men  get  together  and  organise  truth  into  creeds 
and  confessions  of  faith,  into  schools  and  systems  of 
thought;  and  set  the  seal  of  temple  or  synagogue  upon  it, 
and  then  close  their  minds  against  all  else.  No  other 
truth  need  apply.  The  only  access  to  their  minds  is  by 
way  of  the  creeds.    They  know  not  the  voice  of  strangers. 


W  THE  ]\L\NTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

Truth  must  get  itself  labeled  before  they  will  consider  it. 
The  open  mind  makes  no  such  demands.  It  is  open  to 
truth,  from  whatever  source  it  may  come,  in  whatever 
guise  it  may  come.  It  does  not  ask  for  credentials.  All 
truth  is  welcome  to  come  and  earn  its  living  in  the  sweat 
of  its  brow.  It  does  not  need  to  get  itself  stamped.  La- 
bels do  not  help,  and  they  do  not  hinder.  It  is  only  its 
truth  that  recommends  it. 

There  is  more  excuse  for  organised  labour,  Elisha,  than 
there  is  for  organised  truth.  Labour  may  have  to  get  to- 
gether in  order  to  hold  its  own  against  organised  capital. 
Its  very  life  may  depend  upon  it.  It  may  abuse  its  power 
or  its  privilege  after  it  gets  together,  but  that  is  an  abuse 
and  not  a  legitimate  use.  But  truth  does  not  need  to  be 
organised  in  order  to  hold  its  own  against  other  truth,  or 
even  against  error.  Its  life  does  not  depend  upon  it.  It 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  other  truth.  Truths  do  not 
contradict  each  other.  It  has  nothing  to  fear  from  error 
in  an  open  field.  ^len  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth. 
All  weapons  forged  against  it  fail  in  the  end.  They 
always  have,  and  they  always  will.  It  wins  its  way  by 
the  sheer  force  of  its  existence.  All  it  needs  is  a  fair 
hearing.  Even  capital  and  labour  are  beginning  to  realise 
that  their  interests  are  one.  They  should  not  conflict, 
and  will  not  when  each  is  properly  understood.  Much 
more  do  truths  have  all  things  in  common.  God's  house 
is  not  divided  against  itself.  They  are  members,  one  of 
another ;  and  whether  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it  in  the  end. 

There  are  many  obstacles  to  the  reception  of  truth, 
Elisha.  Their  name  is  legion,  and  they  lie  in  wait  for 
us  at  every  turn.  There  is  pride,  and  there  is  prejudice, 
and  there  is  preconceived  opinion,  and  there  is  intrenched 


AN  OPEN  MIND  73 

interest.  All  these  close  the  mind  against  the  truth,  each 
in  its  own  way;  and  the  prophet,  by  the  very  nature  of 
his  calling,  is  peculiarly  susceptible  to  them. 

Pride  keeps  us  from  looking  up.  It  is  more  conscious 
of  the  things  which  are  beneath  it  than  it  is  of  those 
which  are  above  it.  That  is  the  reason  it  goes  before  a 
fall.  It  looks  down,  and  looking  down  makes  men  dizzy. 
The  climbing  man  must  keep  his  eye  on  the  top  of  the 
ladder.  God  is  up,  and  we  must  look  up  to  see  Him. 
Looking  up  keeps  us  humble,  because  it  makes  us  realise 
the  distance  we  have  to  travel.  Walking  with  God,  unlike 
ordinary  walking,  is  not  "a.  continual  process  of  falling." 
It  is  a  continual  process  of  rising.  It  is  an  uphill  busi- 
ness. Thereby  hangs  the  difficulty  of  it.  It  goes  against 
the  law  of  spiritual  gravitation.  Pride  puffs  up,  but  it 
does  not  build  up.  It  swells  the  head,  but  it  does  not  fill 
it  or  train  it  in  correct  thinking. 

There  are  various  kinds  of  pride,  and  each  produces 
after  its  kind.  Pride  of  blood  makes  aristocrats.  Pride 
of  intellect  makes  pedants.  And  pride  of  cliaracter  makes 
Pharisees.  A  man  may  have  all  these,  and  enjoy  them 
with  impunity,  so  long  as  he  is  not  too  conscious  of  them. 
A  v/oman  may  have  beauty  without  vanit>\  It  is  only 
when  she  becomes  aware  of  it,  and  makes  others  aware  of 
it,  that  she  becomes  vain.  She  knows  it  too  well.  It  is  that 
which  spoils  beauty  in  women,  and  strength  in  men,  and 
wisdom  in  prophets.  Proud  men  are  conscious  of  their 
knowledge ;  but  a  man  must  be  conscious  of  his  ignorance 
in  order  to  learn,  and  he  must  not  be  asliamed  of  it.  That 
is  the  reason  we  learn  more  in  the  first  ten  years  of  our 
life  than  in  all  the  rest  of  it  put  together.  We  are  not 
afraid  to  expose  our  ignorance  by  asking  questions.  Like 
Adam  and  Eve  in  Eden,  we  are  naked  and  imasliamed. 


74  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

Proud  men  expose  their  knowledge,  and  humble  men  their 
ignorance.  God  resisteth  the  one,  and  draweth  nigh  unto 
the  other.  It  is  as  hard  for  a  proud  man  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  learning  as  it  is  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  The  way  into  both  is  strait  and 
narrow.  All  extra  baggage  must  be  left  behind.  The 
fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  fear 
stands  in  awe  of  God.  It  does  not  behave  itself  un- 
seemly. Whatever  others  may  do,  Elisha,  as  for  the 
prophet  and  his  house,  he  must  keep  his  soul  humble.  He 
must  put  on  no  airs  either  with  God  or  man. 

Prejudice  keeps  a  man  from  seeing  straight.  It  warps 
his  mind,  and  puts  his  thoughts  on  the  bias.  He  cannot 
look  the  truth  in  the  eye.  He  sees  it  out  of  proportion, 
and  at  the  wrong  angle.  Straight  thinking  is  absolutely 
essential  to  an  appreciation  of  the  truth.  Only  the  un- 
biased mind  can  give  the  truth  a  fair  hearing.  If  a  man 
is  prejudiced  against  any  point  of  the  compass,  he  is  prac- 
tically blind  on  that  side.  Nothing  can  reach  him  from 
that  direction.  Nathanael  was  blind  in  one  eye,  and  his 
Lord  came  very  near  getting  by  him  on  that  side.  "We 
have  found  him,  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the 
prophets,  did  write,"  Philip  told  him,  "Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  son  of  Joseph."  "Can  there  any  good  thing  come  out 
of  Nazareth?"  replied  Nathanael  with  a  curl  of  the  lip. 
As  well  might  one  expect  to  find  a  salmon  in  the  Dead 
Sea.  He  may  have  been  an  Israelite  in  whom  there  was 
no  guile,  but  he  was  not  an  Israelite  in  whom  there  was 
no  prejudice.  His  mind  was  closed  against  Nazareth.  If 
he  had  not  been  honest  enough  to  go  and  see,  he  would 
never  have  known  the  supreme  truth  that  has  come  out 
of  Nazareth. 

Preconceived  ooinion  keeps  us  from  looking  forward 


AN  OPEN  MIND  75 

It  is  more  interested  in  what  it  has  learned  than  it  is  in 
what  it  may  learn.  It  matters  not  whether  we  have 
formed  our  opinions  or  have  inherited  them  from  those 
who  have  gone  before  us,  we  should  not  suffer  them  to 
handicap  us  in  the  pursuit  of  further  knowledge.  Pre- 
vious knowledge  should  not  be  a  stumbHng-block  but  a 
stepping-stone.  Too  many  of  us  cease  to  form  new 
opinions  after  a  certain  age,  and  spend  the  balance  of  our 
time  in  defence  of  those  we  have  already  formed.  We 
cease  to  be  pupils,  and  become  partisans.  We  do  not  give 
the  Bible  a  fair  chance  at  us.  We  look  upon  it  as  a  sort 
of  storehouse  of  proof-texts.  We  do  not  go  to  it  that  we 
may  believe,  but  that  we  may  prove  what  we  already 
believe.  That  is  getting  the  cart  before  the  horse,  Elisha. 
Investigation  should  go  before  the  formation  of  an  opin- 
ion, not  after  it. 

We  should  have  our  convictions,  and  the  courage  of 
them,  but  we  should  also  be  open  to  further  conviction. 
It  is  the  open  mind  that  has  made  the  great  discoveries 
and  gone  upon  the  great  adventures.  It  asks  the  most 
intimate  questions  of  nature,  and  waits  patiently  for  an 
answer.  And  when  the  answer  comes,  it  accepts  it,  at 
whatever  cost  to  previous  opinions.  It  has  no  axes  to 
grind,  nor  any  pet  theories  to  prove.  It  holds  no  brief 
for  any  particular  system  of  belief  or  school  of  thought. 
The  truth  makes  free  only  when  we  stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  it  makes  us  free.  Otherwise  it  becomes 
a  taskmaster  and  teacher  of  dead  languages.  We  learn  at 
the  peril  of  our  freedom  of  thought.  We  must  maintain 
our  independence  at  all  hazards,  and  declare  it  to  all  com- 
ers. Our  very  life  depends  upon  it.  It  is  easy  to  run 
away  from  the  world,  and  escape  from  real  life.  Any 
fool  can  do  that.    But  it  is  hard  to  stay  in  the  world  and 


76  THE  IMANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

keep  ourselves  unspotted  from  it,  to  live  and  keep  our- 
selves unspoiled  by  life.  We  may  learn  at  the  expense 
of  things  that  learning  will  not  bring,  as  we  may  get  rich 
at  the  expense  of  things  that  money  will  not  buy.  That 
is  paying  too  dearly  for  our  knowledge.  To  take  on  cul- 
ture without  losing  our  naturalness,  to  take  on  knowledge 
without  losing  our  inquisitiveness,  to  take  on  experience 
without  losing  our  innocence;  that  is  the  hard  art  of  liv- 
ing in  this  world,  Elisha,  and  happy  is  the  man  who  be- 
comes master  of  it. 

Intrenched  interest  keeps  us  from  looking  out.  It 
genders  the  ingrowing  mind.  It  turns  inward  upon  itself 
as  the  sparks  fly  upward.  It  causes  us  to  look  upon  our 
own  things  to  the  neglect  of  the  things  of  others.  Where 
a  man's  treasure  is,  there  will  his  heart  be  also ;  and  where 
his  interests  are,  there  will  his  thoughts  turn  inevitably. 
The  interested  man  comes  to  consider  all  questions  in  the 
light  of  his  own  interests  and  from  the  angle  of  his  own 
eye.  He  cannot  give  the  truth  a  fair  hearing.  His  judg- 
ment is  deflected  by  his  own  interests.  The  Pharisees 
w^ere  a  standing  example  of  that.  They  were  the  self- 
constituted  keepers  of  the  house  of  Israel.  Not  a  dove 
could  call  to  its  mate,  or  a  prophet  lift  up  his  voice  in 
the  wilderness,  without  their  permission.  And  so  when 
Jesus  took  it  upon  himself  to  cleanse  the  temple  courts  of 
those  who  were  making  merchandise  of  God's  house,  and 
dishonest  merchandise  at  that,  they  were  down  upon  him 
at  once  with  the  question,  "By  what  authority  doest  thou 
these  things,  and  who  gave  thee  this  authority?"  He  cer- 
tainly did  not  get  it  from  them,  and  in  their  judgment 
there  was  no  other  source.  He  answered  their  question 
by  asking  them  one.  "The  baptism  of  John,"  said  he, 
"was  it  from  heaven,  or  from  men?"    It  was  an  honest 


AN  OPEN  MIND  77 

question,  to  be  answered  honestly.  But  they  were  not 
honest  men.  They  immediately  began  to  reason  within 
themselves,  and  they  reasoned  after  their  kind  and  accord- 
ing to  their  own  lights.  And  see  how  their  minds 
worked.  ''If  we  shall  say,  From  heaven,"  said  they  to 
themselves,  ''he  will  say,  Why  then  did  ye  not  believe 
him?  But  if  we  shall  say,  From  men;  there  are  the 
people,  who  are  persuaded  that  the  Baptist  is  a  prophet." 
They  were  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea,  and  there 
was  no  way  out  but  to  back  out,  which  they  proceeded 
to  do  W'ith  the  best  grace  possible.  It  seems  ne\^er  to  have 
occurred  to  them  to  consider  the  question  upon  its  merits, 
but  only  in  its  bearing  upon  their  own  interests.  It  mat- 
tered not  to  them  whether  John  was  a  prophet  or  a  pre- 
tender. They  were  intent  only  upon  saving  their  faces  and 
maintaining  their  standing  with  the  people.  No  wonder 
the  Master  left  them  and  went  his  way.  He  never  cast 
his  pearls  before  swine,  or  knocked  vainly  at  closed 
doors.  They  were  hopelessly  prejudiced  by  their  own 
interests. 

What  do  we  mean  by  intrenched  interest,  Elisha,  and 
why  is  it  so  necessary  that  the  prophet  should  be  on  his 
guard  against  it?  It  means  that  a  man's  own  personal 
interests  get  themselves  intrenched  in  the  established  or- 
der, in  the  industrial  order,  the  political  order,  the  relig- 
ious order,  so  that  they  stand  or  fall  together.  They  be- 
come so  identified  wath  each  other  that  it  is  wellnigh  im.- 
possible  to  distinguish  between  them.  And  the  prophet 
of  all  men  is  in  deadly  danger  of  that.  He  makes  a  bu^si- 
ness  of  his  Master's  business.  Not  only  his  life,  but  his 
living  depends  upon  it.  Thereby  hangs  the  danger.  His 
own  interests  are  so  intimately  bound  up  with  the  inter- 
ests of  the  kingdom  that  he  easily  mistakes  the  one  fof 


78  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

the  other,  and  thinks  he  is  doing  God  service  when  he  is 
only  serving  his  own  selfish  interests.  He  must  watch 
his  soul  with  exceeding  care.  Self-interest  slips  upon  him 
with  the  footfall  of  a  cat.  It  is  the  pestilence  that  walketh 
in  darkness,  the  destruction  that  'wasteth  a  noonday.  Sam- 
son wist  not  that  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  had  departed  from 
him  until  it  was  gone.  It  is  here  that  the  very  elect  are 
so  often  deceived.  Beware,  Elisha,  for  God's  sake  and 
your  own  soul's  sake.  It  is  here  that  so  many  prophets 
have  lost  their  souls,  and  so  many  martyrs  their  lives. 
Most  all  wholesome  reforms  have  run  upon  the  rock  of 
intrenched  interest,  and  many  noble  reformers  have  met 
death  there.  It  was  that  which  sent  Jesus  to  the  cross, 
and  Huss  to  the  stake.  It  was  that  which  lighted  the  fires 
of  Smithfield,  and  forged  the  thumbscrews  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion. 

And  those  who  go  to  their  death  fare  better  in  the  end 
than  those  who  send  them.  It  is  better  to  be  killed  than 
to  kill,  to  suffer  persecution  than  to  persecute.  That  is  why 
Jesus  prayed  on  the  cross,  not  for  Himself,  but  for  those 
who  were  putting  Him  there.  They  were  shutting  their 
eyes  to  the  very  light  of  the  world,  and  His  eyes  to  the 
light  of  the  sun;  and  the  pity  of  it,  for  Him  and  for  them, 
was  that  they  knew  not  what  they  did.  A  man  may  lose 
his  life  in  this  world,  and  keep  it  unto  life  eternal;  but 
what  shall  it  profit  a  man,  here  or  hereafter,  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul?  Or  what  shall 
a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  when  God  shall  re- 
quire it  of  him? 

So  much  for  the  closed  mind,  Elisha,  and  the  things 
which  close  it.  It  is  well  to  know  them  that  we  may  be 
on  our  guard  against  them.  Let  us  turn  now  to  the  open 
mind,  to  some  instances  of  it,  and  the  absolute  necessity 


AN  OPEN  MIND  79 

of  it  to  the  prophet,  if  he  would  save  his  own  soul  alive 
and  properly  shepherd  the  souls  of  others. 

It  was  an  open  mind  which  Gamaliel  brought  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Seventy  that  day,  when  three  simple  Gali- 
lean fishermen  were  brought  before  them  for  trial.  They 
were  innocent-looking  men  upon  the  face  of  them,  un- 
learned and  ignorant  in  the  schools  and  without  power  or 
prestige  on  their  side,  and  yet  they  were  turning  Jerusa- 
lem upside  down  with  their  new  doctrine.  The  council 
was  greatly  alarmed  for  the  established  order,  and  was 
about  to  lay  violent  hands  upon  them,  as  it  had  upon 
their  Master  before  them,  when  Gamaliel,  had  in  repute 
of  them  all  for  the  clarity  of  his  vision  and  the  charity 
of  his  judgment,  rose  in  their  midst  and  said,  *'Ye  men 
of  Israel,  take  heed  to  yourselves  what  ye  intend  to  do  as 
touching  these  men.  For  before  these  days  rose  up 
Theudas,  boasting  himself  to  be  somebody;  to  whom  a 
number  of  men,  about  four  hundred,  joined  themselves; 
who  was  slain,  and  all,  as  many  as  put  their  faith  in  him, 
were  scattered  and  brought  to  nought.  After  this  man 
rose  up  Judas  of  Galilee  in  the  days  of  the  taxing,  and 
drew  away  much  people  after  him :  he  also  perished ;  and 
all,  as  many  as  followed  him,  were  dispersed.  And  now 
I  say  unto  you,  Refrain  from  these  men,  and  let  them 
alone ;  for  if  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of  men,  it  will 
come  to  nought;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow 
it;  lest  haply  ye  be  found  fighting  against  God."  There 
was  a  difference  of  opinion.  Some  believed  that  the  new 
movement  was  of  God,  others  that  it  was  of  the  devil. 
Time  only  would  tell.  If  it  was  of  men,  it  would  go  the 
way  of  all  the  rest.     Gamaliel  would  wait  and  see. 

It  was  an  open  mind  that  William  James  took  with  him 
out  into  the  unseen,  about  which  there  is  so  much  specu- 


80  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

lation  and  so  little  known.  Shortly  before  his  death,  he 
remarked  to  a  friend,  "If  it  is  possible  to  talk  back  when 
I  get  there,  I  will  do  it."  The  schools  were  divided,  and 
doctors  w^ere  disagreed.  Some  claimed  to  have  received 
communications  from  the  next  world,  while  others  shook 
their  heads  and  said  it  -was  impossible.  There  was  no 
medium  of  communication  between.  Some  even  went  so 
far  as  to  declare  that  there  was  no  other  world  there. 
James  would  know  soon,  and  if  it  were  possible,  he  would 
let  others  know.  He  had  kept  open  house  here,  and  he 
would  continue  to  do  so  hereafter.  It  is  to  such  minds 
that  nature  tells  her  secrets,  and  God  reveals  his  heav- 
enly visions. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  people  in  the  world,  Elisha,  in 
their  attitude  toward  the  truth,  and  between  them  the 
truth  is  hard-pressed  for  its  life.  There  are  those  on  the 
one  hand  who  will  have  none  of  the  truth  when  it  is  old, 
and  on  the  other  those  who  will  have  none  of  it  when  it 
is  new.  The  one  is  afraid  of  the  past,  the  other  of  the 
future.  Go  not  to  either  extreme,  Elisha.  The  past  has 
claims  upon  us,  only  we  should  remember  that  it  is  behind 
us;  and  the  future  has  claims  upon  us,  only  we  should 
remember  that  it  is  before  us.  The  best  way  to  deal  with 
two  extremes  is  to  split  the  difference  between  them.  The 
safest  path  is  generally  to  be  found  in  the  middle  of  the 
road.  Hold  fast  to  old  truths,  which  have  been  tried  and 
found  true,  and  at  the  same  time  be  ready  to  try  new 
ones,  to  see  if  they  are  true.  We  have  to  turn  our  backs 
upon  the  past  in  order  to  face  the  future,  but  we  do  not 
have  to  depart  from  it.  We  should  keep  to  the  old  trails, 
but  go  forward  in  them.  The  place  to  break  new  ground 
is  not  at  the  side  of  them,  but  at  the  end  of  them.    The 


AN  OPEN  MIND  81 

truth  is  true  neither  because  it  is  old  nor  because  it  is  new, 
but  only  because  it  is  true. 

But  it  is  the  new  truth  that  needs  a  friend.  It  is  a 
stranger,  and  it  must  be  taken  in.  Old  truths  have  be- 
come domiciled  in  our  thoughts,  and  are  at  home  among 
us.  We  take  them  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  are  a 
part  of  the  furniture  of  our  Hfe.  They  have  established 
themselves  in  our  faith  and  affections.  They  have  been 
housed  in  institutions,  and  enacted  into  laws.  But  the 
new  truth  is  without,  w^aiting  at  our  gates,  knocking  at  our 
doors,  disturbing  our  slumbers.  We  are  in  our  comfort- 
able beds,  and  we  do  not  like  to  get  up.  It  calls  upon  us 
to  readjust  our  thinking,  possibly  to  reconstruct  our  liv- 
ing, and  we  do  not  like  to  do  that.  It  goes  against  the 
grain.  We  do  not  take  kindly  to  change  after  a  certain 
age.  Old  ways  are  so  comfortable,  like  old  sandals  and 
old  shoes.  We  get  set  in  them,  as  our  shoes  get  set  to 
our  feet,  and  we  are  reluctant  to  change.  New  shoes  hurt 
our  feet,  and  new  thoughts  hurt  our  minds,  until  we  get 
used  to  them.  "No  man,  having  drunk  old  wine,  straight- 
way desireth  new ;  for  he  saith.  The  old  is  better."  That 
is  why  new  truth  always  meets  with  opposition.  It  dis- 
turbs the  established  order,  and  so  the  established  order 
is  against  it;  it  runs  counter  to  our  habits,  and  habit  is 
strong  upon  us ;  it  transgresses  the  traditions  of  the  elders, 
and  so  the  elders  are  opposed  to  it.  It  always  has  to  wait 
for  some  men  to  die  off,  and  get  out  of  the  way. 

The  average  man  of  us  is  shy  of  strangers,  whether 
they  be  strange  truths  or  strange  men.  And  yet  some- 
body must  entertain  the  stranger.  If  new  truth  is  to  get 
into  the  world,  somebody  must  let  it  in.  It  cannot  enter 
through  closed  doors,  and  it  will  not  come  in  at  the  win- 
dow.   The  shepherd  enters  only  by  way  of  the  door.    He 


8«  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

that  climbeth  up  any  other  way  is  a  thief  and  a  robber. 
Falsehood  enters  the  world  by  fair  means  or  foul,  by  the 
back  door  if  not  by  the  front  door;  but  not  so  the  truth. 
It  demands  a  fair  hearing  and  an  honest  entrance.  It 
does  not  come  as  a  thief,  but  as  a  guest.  We  must  come 
by  it  honestly,  or  not  at  all.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  does 
not  take  us  by  violence.  Only  earthly  kingdoms  do  that, 
and  His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world.  God  will  not 
raise  so  much  as  a  finger  to  force  an  entrance.  He  knocks, 
even  with  nail-pierced  hands,  but  He  waits  for  the  door  to 
be  opened. 

We  ought  to  be  hospitable  to  strangers,  Elisha.  God 
was  a  stranger  here  once,  a  babe  in  a  manger;  and  so 
were  we  all.  We  are  in  the  world  because  some  pale- 
faced  woman  was  willing  to  go  down  to  the  gates  of 
death  to  bring  us  in,  and  because  God  was  willing  to  go 
to  the  cross  to  keep  us  in.  Let  us  do  as  we  have  been 
done  by.  *'When  you  come  into  your  Promised  Land," 
said  Moses  to  the  children  of  Israel,  "and  meet  a  stranger 
there,  remember  that  you  were  strangers  once  in  Egypt." 
We  too  often  forget  that,  Elisha,  when  we  have  come 
into  our  Promised  Land.  We  put  on  airs  with  strangers, 
as  if  we  had  always  been  here.  God  only  can  afford  to 
do  that,  and  yet  He  does  it  least  of  all.  All  the  good  old 
truths  whose  faces  are  so  familiar  to  us  were  new  once; 
and  somebody  had  to  entertain  them,  and  defend  them, 
and  even  die  for  them  at  a  pinch. 

Let  us  not  mistake  our  duty  to  strangers,  Elisha.  So 
many  people  do.  They  seem  to  think  that  entertainment 
means  adoption.  They  feel  called  upon  either  to  receive 
the  stranger  immediately  into  the  bosom  of  their  family 
or  else  reject  him  altogether.  But  that  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow.     When  you  receive  a  stranger  into  your 


AN  OPEN  MIND  83 

home,  you  do  not  thereby  make  him  a  member  of  your 
family,  or  count  him  among  your  friends.  You  do  not 
at  once  take  him  into  your  confidence,  or  tell  him  your 
secrets;  not  if  you  are  wise.  You  simply  entertain  him. 
That  is  all.  You  take  him  in  out  of  the  weather;  you  let 
him  sit  at  your  fire,  and  eat  of  your  bread,  and  sleep 
under  your  roof.  You  extend  to  him  the  hospitality  of 
your  house.  He  is  your  guest,  not  your  friend ;  not  even 
your  acquaintance  as  yet.  First  entertainment,  then  ac- 
quaintance, and  after  that  the  full  confidence  of  friend- 
ship. That  is  the  proper  order,  whether  with  new  men 
or  new  truths.  Our  first  duty  to  any  new  truth  that 
knocks  at  our  door  is  simply  entertainment.  It  does  not 
require  of  us  that  we  adopt  it  into  our  beliefs,  or  build 
it  into  our  lives,  until  it  has  been  tried  and  found  true. 
It  demands  only  an  open  door  and  a  hospitable  mind,  only 
an  honest  hearing  and  a  fair  chance  to  justify  itself  at 
the  bar  of  our  judgment.  What  more  could  it  ask,  what 
less? 

Keep  open  house,  Elishia,  and  keep  it  open  to  all 
quarters.  You  can  never  tell  from  what  direction  the 
truth  will  come.  God  is  not  committed  to  any  one 
quarter.  The  four  winds  are  his,  and  the  four  corners 
of  the  earth.  He  speaks  to  us  from  within  and  from 
without.  Our  house  stands  at  the  conjunction  of  two 
worlds,  where  flesh  and  spirit  meet,  and  there  are  win- 
dows on  both  sides.  They  command  the  world  of  men, 
and  the  unseen  world  of  God,  whose  voice  is  still  and 
small.  Our  life  is  strangely  blown  upon  from  both  sides, 
and  the  wind  bloweth  where  it  will ;  from  this  side  to-day, 
from  that  to-morrow.  Man  your  windows,  Elisha,  with 
unceasing  vigil. 

It  is  incumbent  upon  the  prophet  of  all  men  to  keep 


84  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

open  house.  His  calling  demands  it  of  him.  He  must 
see  not  only  for  himself,  but  also  for  others.  He  is  a 
sky  pilot.  The  man  in  the  street  looks  to  him  for  gui- 
dance, and  the  man  at  the  plough.  Walls  shut  them  in, 
but  not  the  man  on  the  walls.  His  is  the  commanding 
position.  Men  down  below  are  constantly  calling  to  him, 
Watchman,  what  of  the  sky;  is  it  red  and  lowering,  or 
radiant  with  promise  ?  And  he  must  be  able  to  tell  them, 
or  else  get  down  off  the  walls  and  cease  blocking  the  sky- 
line with  his  dark  body.  He  must  either  see  for  others 
or  let  them  see  for  themselves  as  best  they  can.  The  chief 
charge  which  Jesus  brought  against  those  who  sat  in 
Moses'  seat  was  that  they  had  shut  up  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  against  men ;  they  neither  went  in  themselves,  nor 
would  they  suffer  those  who  would  have  entered  to  enter. 
They  were  actually  in  the  way.  The  horizon  of  Israel 
would  have  been  clearer  without  them.  They  were  fenc- 
ing up  the  kingdom  instead  of  opening  it  up. 

Our  Master  also  demands  it  of  us,  Elisha,  that  we 
keep  open  house.  We  cannot  follow  Him  and  be  close- 
minded,  any  more  than  we  can  be  close-fisted.  He  was 
the  most  open-minded  man  who  ever  lived,  and  the  most 
open-handed.  His  mind  was  an  open  court,  where  all 
the  thoughts  of  men  had  a  fair  hearing,  where  all  the 
children  of  men  stood  upon  an  equal  footing.  Let  this 
mind  be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Him.  Be  swift  your 
soul  to  answer  him,  be  jubilant  your  feet.  You  cannot 
afford  to  close  your  windows  even  at  night.  Heavenly 
visions  have  been  known  to  come  to  men  in  their  dreams. 

If  there  is  ever  a  man  whom  it  behooves  to  keep  open 
house  it  is  the  prophet,  and  if  ever  there  was  a  time 
when  it  behooved  him  to  keep  it  open  it  is  now,  when  old 
things  are  passing  away  and  all  things  are  becoming  new. 


AN  OPEN  MIND  85 

The  old  order  changeth  before  our  very  eyes.  The  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  are  broken  up,  and  the  spirit  of 
God  is  abroad  on  the  face  of  the  waters.  The  world  is 
fluid  under  our  hands.  A  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth 
are  in  the  making  all  about  us.  Everywhere  the  tree  of 
life  is  putting  forth  new  leaves.  Let  us  not  mistake  the 
meaning  of  all  this  toil  and  travail  of  our  times.  It  is  not 
death  pangs  we  are  feeling,  but  birth-throes.  A  new  age 
is  being  born  in  our  day,  and  birth  always  means  travail. 
These  are  not  easy  times,  Elisha,  in  which  we  are  living. 
They  are  hard  times,  and  they  press  hardly  upon  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  men.  Men  live  their  lives  and  do 
their  work  under  great  difficulty.  But  they  are  intensely 
interesting  times ;  none  more  so  since  those  halcyon  days 
when  Jesus  was  here  among  men.  It  is  well  worth  living, 
if  only  to  see  what  will  happen  to-morrow.  It  would 
hardly  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  more  truths  have 
come  to  light  in  the  last  hundred  years  than  in  all  the 
centuries  before,  and  each  one  is  more  surprising  than 
the  last.  Miracles  have  not  ceased:  they  have  only  be- 
come so  common  that  we  take  them  as  a  matter  of  course. 
They  are  no  longer  miraculous.  They  are  all  in  the 
day's  work.  Jules  Verne  has  not  been  long  in  his  grave, 
but  he  is  already  a  back  number.  All  his  wild,  out- 
landish dreams  have  been  more  than  realised. 

And  what  has  been  true  of  my  generation,  Elisha,  will 
be  true  in  a  larger  measure  of  yours.  You  will  live  to  see 
things  that  it  has  not  entered  into  my  heart  to  conceive. 
Don't  be  afraid  that  the  wonders  will  all  be  gone  before 
you  get  to  them.  The  book  of  revelation  is  not  closed. 
The  last  word  of  life  has  not  been  spoken,  or  if  it  has 
it  has  not  been  fully  understood.  There  is  more  to  follow. 
Slowly  men  are  spelling  out  secrets  which  have  been  hid- 


86  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

den  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  hidden  because 
men's  eyes  were  holden  to  them.  Many  splendid  visions 
have  been  let  down  out  of  heaven,  but  the  windows  are 
still  open.  Who  can  tell  what  a  day  may  bring  forth? 
It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  the  next  revelation  will  be. 
We  only  know  that  from  all  the  hilltops  of  the  world  the 
faces  of  men  are  turned  forward  with  high  expectation 
and  hope.  The  times  are  radiant  with  anticipation. 
There  must  be  something  there,  around  the  next  turn  in 
the  road,  over  the  crest  of  the  distant  hill,  to  draw  the 
eyes  of  men  forward  with  such  compelling  power.  Some 
new  window  of  heaven  is  about  to  be  opened,  or  a  new- 
leaf  turned  in  the  book  of  life.  Something  is  waiting 
there  for  our  travelling  feet.  Perhaps  it  is  the  Master 
Himself,  come  again  in  some  one  of  His  many  guises,  on 
some  one  of  His  many  missions  upon  earth.  Who  knows  ? 
Keep  your  eyes  open,  Elisha,  and  your  loins  girded  about, 
ready  to  run  for  your  Lord  when  He  speaks  the  word. 


CHAPTER  IX 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART 


When  Solomon  came  into  his  kingdom,  in  the  stead 
of  his  father,  the  Lord  asked  him  what  He  could  do  for 
him.  And  what  do  you  think  he  asked  for,  Elisha  ?  Not 
for  riches,  or  honour,  or  the  life  of  his  enemies ;  but  for 
an  understanding  heart  to  judge  between  right  and  wrong, 
to  discern  between  good  and  evil.  An  understanding 
heart  may  bring  riches  and  honour  and  triumph  over  our 
enemies,  but  riches  and  honour  and  success  do  not  always 
bring  an  understanding  heart.  Solomon  was  already  wise 
enough  to  know  that.  He  felt  unequal  to  his  task.  He 
had  a  king's  job  on  his  hands,  and  he  was  young  and  in- 
experienced. He  found  himself  confronted  with  the  hard 
affairs  of  state,  and  with  even  more  difficult  domestic  af- 
fairs. He  had  to  live  with  a  thousand  wives,  and  keep 
on  good  terms  with  them  and,  what  is  more,  keep  them 
on  good  terms  with  each  other.  He  had  inherited  his 
father's  job,  but  he  had  not  inherited  David's  understand- 
ing heart.  That  is  something  which  no  man  can  leave 
to  another.  Each  of  us  must  get  it  for  himself,  either 
directly  from  the  Lord,  or  by  indirection  from  observa- 
tion and  experience.  Happy  is  the  man  who  has  it  to  end 
with,  as  the  result  of  years  of  living  and  learning  from 
life ;  but  happier  is  the  man  who  has  it  to  begin  with,  as 
the  result  of  watchful  days  and  wakeful  nights  in  the 
secret  place. 

87 


88  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

And  if  the  king  has  need  of  it,  much  more  the  prophet. 
Prophecy  is  more  difficult  than  kingcraft,  Ehsha,  and 
calls  for  a  quicker  understanding.  The  affairs  of  a  king- 
dom of  this  world  are  so  much  more  tangible  than  those 
of  a  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world,  and  are  there- 
fore more  easily  conducted.  The  unseen  world  is  so  re- 
mote from  the  everyday  affairs  of  life,  and  men  adven- 
ture there  with  such  extreme  reluctance.  There  is  so 
much  more  at  issue  in  the  prophet's  work,  and  mistakes 
are  more  hardly  mended.  The  king  can  overtake  a  mis- 
directed messenger  before  he  reaches  his  destination,  but 
who  can  recall  a  misspoken  word  after  it  has  left  the  lips 
of  the  speaker?  It  has  gone  upon  its  mission,  and  it  will 
not  return  at  his  call.  It  is  no  longer  his  to  command. 
It  has  lodged  in  the  hearts  of  others,  and  he  cannot  pluck 
it  out  against  their  will.  The  prophet  is  God's  spokesman, 
and  if  he  speak  falsely  for  God,  who  is  to  gainsay  him? 
Only  some  other  human  voice  likewise  speaking  for  God. 
It  is  one  human  voice  against  another,  and  who  is  to 
judge  between  them  ?  When  prophets  disagree,  the  people 
go  astray. 

The  thunders  of  God  have  been  directed  against  false 
prophets  from  the  beginning.  *Woe  to  them  who  call 
evil  good,  and  good  evil ;  that  put  darkness  for  light,  and 
light  for  darkness;  that  put  bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet 
for  bitter."  Shame  to  the  prophet  who  gives  men  stones 
for  bread,  and  serpents  when  they  ask  for  fish ;  who  causes 
them  to  believe  a  lie,  when  they  come  to  him  for  the 
truth.  The  curse  of  God  is  on  him,  and  his  day  is  com- 
ing.   It  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

And  the  result  is  the  same,  whether  the  prophet  mis- 
lead men  knowingly  or  ignorantly,  whether  he  deceive 
only  others  or  himself  with  them.     Not  the  same  guilt 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART  89 

to  the  prophet,  but  the  same  hurt  to  the  people.  If  you 
give  a  man  poison,  Elisha,  and  it  kills  him,  he  will  be  just 
as  dead,  and  will  stay  dead  just  as  long,  whether  you 
knew  it  was  poison  or  not.  If  you  put  a  man  on  the 
wrong  road,  he  will  miss  his  way  just  as  surely  and  will 
go  just  as  far  astray,  whether  you  misdirected  him  with 
the  best  of  intentions  or  the  worst  of  intentions.  Those 
who  sent  Jesus  to  His  death  thought  they  were  doing  God 
service,  but  that  did  not  bring  the  Master  back  from  the 
dead,  or  restore  His  kingdom  to  Israel.  He  came  back, 
but  it  was  not  because  the  rulers  of  Israel  saw  their  mis- 
take. The  majority  of  them  never  saw  it,  and  it  would 
have  been  all  the  same  if  they  had.  No  greater  calamity 
can  befall  a  man  than  that  atrophy  of  the  spiritual  senses 
which  overtook  the  Pharisees.  What  is  to  become  of  a 
prophet,  and  what  is  to  become  of  his  people,  when  he 
mistakes  the  voice  of  God  for  the  very  hiss  of  the  serpent? 
He  has  forgotten  the  sound  of  his  Father's  voice,  and 
there  is  no  way  to  reach  him  with  word  from  home. 

God  is  not  mocked,  Elisha,  and  His  laws  are  not  evaded. 
Whatsoever  a  prophet  soweth  in  his  own  life,  that  shall 
he  also  reap,  whether  he  knows  what  he  is  sowing  or  not ; 
and  whatsoever  he  soweth  in  the  lives  of  others,  that  shall 
they  also  reap,  whether  he  knows  what  he  is  sowing  or 
not.  It  is  the  soil,  and  not  the  sower,  that  bears  the  grain ; 
and  every  seed  brings  forth  after  its  kind.  Do  men 
gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles?  Seedtime  and 
harvest  follow  each  other,  as  day  follows  night,  and 
wheat  and  tares  grow  together  unto  the  harvest.  Ponder 
well  the  words  of  your  mouth  before  you  speak  them, 
Elisha.  Men  will  go  on  believing  them  long  after  you  are 
dead  and  gone. 

But  how  shall  a  man  know  that  he  knows  the  truth? 


90  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

By  what  ear-marks  shall  he  recognise  it?  Others  before 
him  have  thought  that  they  knew  it,  but  time  proved  that 
they  did  not.  How  shall  he  assure  himself  that  he  too 
is  not  mistaken?  He  thinks  so,  but  thinking  does  not 
necessarily  make  it  so.  It  did  not  make  the  earth  flat, 
or  cause  the  sun  to  revolve  around  it.  Belief  does  not 
make  a  thing  true,  nor  does  unbelief  keep  it  from  being 
true.  How  shall  a  man  know  that  he  has  discovered  the 
truth,  or  that  it  has  been  revealed  to  him?  There  is  no 
sign  to  tell  him.  No  bell  rings  or  trumpet  sounds.  The 
truth  is  its  own  witness,  and  its  voice  is  still  and  small. 
The  Jews  asked  a  sign  of  Jesus,  but  he  would  give  them 
none,  because  there  was  none  to  give.  If  their  own  hearts 
did  not  assure  them,  nothing  else  could.  The  truth  re- 
veals itself  only  to  the  understanding  heart. 

It  is  well  to  have  an  open  mind,  Elisha,  but  an  under- 
standing heart  should  always  go  with  it.  The  one  with- 
out the  other  is  a  dangerous  possession.  We  may  receive 
any  passerby  under  our  roof,  but  we  must  choose  our 
friends  and  intimate  acquaintances  with  exceeding  care. 
If  we  are  to  keep  open  house  to  all  comers,  we  must  be 
able  to  judge  between  them;  otherwise,  we  are  liable  to 
entertain  wolv^es  in  sheep's  clothing  as  well  as  angels  in 
disguise.  Both  are  going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and 
travelling  up  and  down  in  it.  The  devil  does  not  always 
appear  with  hoof  and  horns.  He  is  sometimes  trans- 
formed into  an  angel  of  light. 

If  the  lights  and  shadows  of  life  stood  out  in  bold 
relief  before  our  eyes,  if  good  and  evil  met  each  other,  as 
the  hills  meet  the  sky,  in  clearcut  lines,  the  prophet's  task 
would  be  comparatively  easy;  but  they  do  not.  They 
appear  in  all  sorts  of  variations  and  combinations.  Hence 
the  difificulty  of  the  prophetic  oflice.     You  will  find  the 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART  91 

world  a  strange  mixture,  Elisha,  of  good  and  evil,  truth 
and  error,  laughter  and  tears ;  and  the  different  ingredi- 
ents do  not  appear  in  sharp  contrast.  They  blend,  and 
run  into  each  other.  There  is  white  and  black ;  but  there 
is  also  gray,  and  all  the  other  shades  between.  Men  are 
neither  good  nor  bad,  they  are  both  good  and  bad.  So 
many  things  are  neither  bitter  nor  sweet,  they  are  bitter- 
sweet. Twilight  is  neither  day  nor  night,  it  is  day  and 
night.  Spring  is  neither  winter  nor  summer,  it  is  winter 
and  summer.  It  is  at  these  meeting-points  that  trouble 
begins,  and  doubts  arise.  Day  does  not  leave  off  abruptly, 
and  night  begin;  they  shade  off  into  each  other.  And  so 
with  winter  and  summer,  and  flesh  and  spirit.  And  yet 
we  know  that  winter  does  change  to  summer,  and  day  to 
night.  At  two  given  points,  far  enough  removed  from 
each  other,  the  distinction  is  clear.  It  is  quite  apparent 
in  midsummer  and  midwinter,  at  midday  and  midnight. 
In  January  we  know  it  is  winter,  and  in  July  we  know  it 
is  summer ;  but  just  where  did  one  leave  off,  and  the  other 
begin?  We  cannot  put  our  finger  on  the  place.  Just 
when  does  a  boy  become  a  man,  or  a  tribe  a  nation  ?  The 
man  himself  cannot  tell,  nor  the  nation.  And  yet  the 
man  knows  he  was  a  boy  once,  and  that  he  is  a  man  now. 
Transitions  are  such  subtle  things,  and  so  hardly  dis- 
tinguished. 

Life  has  its  two  opposite  poles,  far  removed  from  each 
other,  where  things  are  as  different  as  day  and  night ;  but 
it  also  has  its  equator,  midway  between,  where  things  are 
as  indifferent  as  dusk.  There  is  no  doubt  at  either  pole. 
When  you  see  a  man  bestow  his  goods  to  feed  the  poor, 
you  know  it  is  right;  and  when  you  see  him  take  his 
neighbour's  goods,  either  by  stealth  or  by  force,  you  know 
it  is  wrong.    When  you  see  one  man  take  another's  life, 


92  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

you  know  he  does  ill;  and  when  you  see  him  save  an- 
other's life,  you  know  he  does  well.  Your  conscience 
bears  unmistakable  evidence.  But  there  are  intermediate 
points  where  its  witness  is  not  so  clear.  It  is  upon  the 
equator,  in  that  uncertain  twilight  zone  of  life,  that  men 
have  so  much  difficulty  between  right  and  wrong ;  and  it 
is  there  that  they  so  often  come  to  the  prophet  for  coim- 
sel.  It  is  a  far  cry  from  one  pole  to  the  other,  but  life 
runs  continuously  all  the  way  between  them,  and  there 
are  no  landmarks  on  the  way.  Start  out  upon  any  line  of 
human  conduct,  whether  it  lead  through  amusements  or 
politics  or  business,  and,  sooner  or  later,  you  will  find 
yourself  at  a  point  where  right  is  leaving  off  and  wrong 
is  beginning;  and  the  change  is  like  that  from  day  to 
night,  from  winter  to  summer.  Right  shades  off  into 
wrong,  and  truth  into  error. 

Nature  draws  no  hard  and  fast  lines,  Elisha.  She 
leaves  that  to  men.  God  makes  the  world,  but  men  make 
geography.  He  stretches  out  the  heavens,  but  men  make 
maps  of  them.  He  rounds  out  the  year,  but  men  draw 
lines  across  it,  dividing  winter  from  summer.  He  gives 
life,  but  men  divide  it  into  childhood  and  youth  and  old 
age.  And  it  is  this  map-making,  this  drawing  of  lines 
where  nature  has  not  drawn  them,  that  is  so  difficult.  It 
calls  for  a  clear  eye,  and  a  steady  hand. 

And  yet,  for  all  practical  purposes,  lines  must  be  drawn 
and  distinctions  made.  They  are  arbitrary  Unes,  and 
therefore  only  approximations  at  best;  but  they  are  nev- 
ertheless necessary.  Men  must  have  maps  to  go  by,  and 
rules  to  live  by.  The  equator  is  a  purely  imaginary  line, 
Elisha,  but  it  serves  a  useful  purpose.  Navigation  would 
be  next  to  impossible  without  it.  Continents  must  be  di- 
vided into  countries  and  states  and  principalities,  if  men 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART  93 

are  to  dwell  upon  the  earth  and  set  bounds  to  their  habita- 
tations.  The  year  must  be  divided  into  months  and  weeks 
and  days,  and  the  day  into  hours  and  minutes,  if  men 
are  to  make  dates  and  meet  engagements.  Right  and 
wrong  must  be  defined,  even  to  their  nicer  distinctions,  if 
men  are  to  recognise  rights  and  respect  them,  if  they  are 
to  know  their  duty  and  do  it.  We  instinctively  feel  that 
there  are  moral  distinctions,  even  where  they  do  not  ap- 
pear to  the  naked  eye.  Our  conscience  feels  the  pull  of 
the  two  opposite  poles,  even  when  it  hangs  in  a  balance 
between  them.  Our  life  is  shot  through  with  right  and 
wrong  in  all  their  manifold  distinctions;  and  to  ferret 
them  out,  and  make  them  clear  to  the  eyes  of  men,  is  the 
prophet's  business. 

And  you  have  come  into  your  kingdom,  Elisha,  at  a 
time  when  this  business  is  peculiarly  difficult.  The  old 
simple  days,  with  their  few  homely  duties,  are  gone  for 
ever,  and  the  times  are  complex,  and  out  of  joint  at  many 
points.  Never  has  the  raw  material  of  life  been  so  rich 
and  varied,  and  yet  never  has  the  art  of  living  been  so 
extremely  difficult.  The  ends  of  the  earth,  and  of  the 
ages,  are  come  upon  us,  and  they  have  come  in  the  utmost 
confusion.  Old  landmarks  are  gone,  and  new  ones  have 
not  yet  been  defined.  The  four  winds  bring  us  raw  prod- 
ucts from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  but  they  do 
not  winnow  the  chaff  from  the  wheat.  We  must  do  our 
own  winnowing.  He  that  would  know  the  truth  of  God 
for  this  generation  must  have  all  his  wits  about  him,  and 
keep  them  in  close  touch  with  the  infinite.  He  must  bring 
to  his  task  a  mind  without  prejudice,  and  a  heart  without 
guile.  If  a  man  is  to  read  the  handwriting  on  the  walls 
of  king's  palaces  and  cotter's  cottages,  he  must  know 
God's  handwriting  when  he  sees  it,  and  expert  knowledge 


94.  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

comes  only  from  long  familiarity.  If  he  is  to  recognise 
the  still  small  voice  in  all  this  modern  babble  of  tongues, 
he  must  have  a  quick  ear  and  an  understanding  heart. 
If  he  is  to  see  God  face  to  face  in  the  throng,  as  Moses 
saw  Him  in  the  solitude,  he  must  keep  his  eyes  clear  and 
his  windows  clean.  We  see  God  with  our  hearts,  Elisha ; 
and  the  purer  the  heart,  the  clearer  the  vision.  He  is  not 
arrived  at  by  processes  of  logic.  He  is  seen  by  direct  vision. 
Who  by  searching  can  find  out  God?  He  does  not  tell 
us  to  dig  and  delve  and  weigh  evidence,  that  we  may 
know  that  He  is  God,  but  "be  still  and  know."  Not  ac- 
tivity, but  passivity  of  spirit.  To  see  accurately  we  must 
stand  still.  If  either  the  beholder  or  the  object  of  his 
vision  is  in  motion,  the  vision  will  be  blurred  or  out  of 
focus.  All  other  things  being  equal,  water  is  clearest 
when  it  is  still. 

There  are  various  kinds  of  knowledge,  Elisha,  and 
various  ways  of  coming  by  them.  We  obtain  historical 
knowledge  from  the  reading  of  books.  We  arrive  at 
scientific  knowledge  by  investigation  and  the  weighing  of 
evidence.  We  get  a  knowledge  of  men  from  observation 
of  them  and  their  ways.  But  we  come  by  knowledge  of 
God  through  the  intuitions  of  our  souls  in  direct  contact 
with  the  unseen.  There  are  truths  which  are  necessarily 
objective.  They  cannot  be  subjected  to  the  test  of  ex- 
perience. There  is  no  point  of  contact.  They  must  be 
accepted  upon  outside  evidence.  But  there  are  other 
truths  which  lend  themselves  to  subjective  processes. 
They  can  be  tried  out  in  our  own  experience.  God  can 
be  known  directly.  He  challenges  subjection.  He  invites 
personal  contact.  We  can  try  Him,  and  see  for  ourselves. 
There  is  a  difference  between  knowledge  and  information, 
Elisha.     Information  is  knowledge  about  things.     You 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART  95 

will  find  a  vast  amount  of  information  about  God,  but  not 
so  much  knowledge  of  Him.  Others  may  be  content  to 
know  about  Him,  but  the  prophet  must  know  Him — the 
fashion  of  His  countenance,  the  sound  of  His  voice,  the 
feel  of  His  hand.  He  dare  not  take  his  knowledge  second- 
hand. 

You  can  get  information  upon  many  subjects  from 
many  sources,  Elisha;  but  you  can  get  a  knowledge  of 
God  in  only  one  way,  and  from  only  one  source.  If  you 
do  not  get  it  in  that  way,  you  will  not  get  it  at  all ;  if  you 
do  not  seek  it  from  that  source,  you  will  seek  it  in  vain 
from  all  other  sources.  Why  is  it  that  men  return  from 
the  woods  and  open  fields  with  such  conflicting  reports  of 
what  they  saw  there?  One  man  comes  back  and  reports 
that  he  saw  God  there  in  every  blade  of  grass,  in  every 
burning  bush,  in  every  flaming  sky.  And  another  tells 
us  that  it  is  all  a  mistake ;  he  has  been  there,  and  he  saw 
nothing  but  stocks  and  stones  and  star  dust.  What  is  the 
difference,  and  where  does  it  lie?  It  is  not  in  the  outer 
world  upon  which  they  look,  but  in  the  men  who  look. 
They  look  upon  the  same  things,  but  with  different  eyes. 
One  took  God  with  him  to  the  woods,  and  the  other  did 
not.  That  is  all.  *T  used  to  think,"  says  the  old  Pro- 
fessor in  David  Grayson's  delightful  Adventures  in  Con- 
tentment, "I  used  to  think,  when  I  was  a  young  man, 
that  there  was  no  God;  but  now,"  with  a  wave  of  his 
hand  which  took  in  the  whole  world,  "it  seems  to  me 
there  is  nothing  but  God."  Why  such  a  difference  be- 
tween the  young  man  and  the  old  man?  The  world  had 
not  changed  at  all.  Somewhere  between  youth  and  old 
age  he  had  come  upon  God  in  his  own  heart,  and  it 
changed  the  whole  face  of  nature  for  him.  God  is  every- 
where in  His  world,  Elisha,  from  the  beginning  of  things 


96  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

to  the  end  of  things,  from  the  top  of  things  to  the  bottom 
of  things,  from  the  outmost  edge  of  things  to  the  inmost 
core  of  things;  the  trail  of  His  garments  is  upon  all  our 
highways  and  byways;  but  there  is  only  one  point  of 
direct  contact  with  Him,  only  one  place  where  we  meet 
Him  face  to  face,  and  that  is  in  these  human  hearts  of 
ours.  If  we  do  not  find  Him  there,  we  will  not  find  Him 
anywhere;  and  if  we  find  Him  there,  we  will  find  Him 
everywhere,  in  autumn  woods  and  evening  skies,  in  hu- 
man faces  and  desert  places,  and  the  whole  earth  will  be 
full  of  His  glory. 

If  you  are  to  speak  to  men  with  authority,  Elisha, 
upon  the  many  hard  problems  of  our  modern  life,  you 
must  come  to  them  with  this  open  vision  of  God.  It 
will  not  do  to  quote  books,  or  cite  passages.  Of  the 
making  of  books  there  is  no  end,  and  much  study 
is  a  weariness  to  the  flesh.  What  they  want  is  a  liv- 
ing voice  from  the  living  God.  You  must  be  able  to  look 
them  in  the  face,  and  say,  "This  is  God's  truth,  you  can 
stake  your  soul's  salvation  upon  it ;  I  have  seen  Him,  and 
this  is  what  He  said  to  me."  Don't  mistake  the  temper  of 
this  age,  Elisha.  It  has  been  called  all  sorts  of  hard 
names ;  but  it  is  a  pretty  good  age,  after  all,  perhaps  the 
best  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  is  not  frivolous,  though 
it  believes  in  making  the  most  of  this  present  world.  It 
is  not  indifferent,  though  it  is  not  concerned  about  some 
of  the  things  which  concerned  its  fathers.  It  is  not 
antagonistic,  except  when  it  is  rubbed  the  wrong  way. 
It  is  simply  and  frankly  agnostic.  It  is  ignorant  of  the 
unseen.  It  does  not  know.  It  would  like  to  know.  There 
are  times  when  it  would  give  its  right  hand  to  know. 
It  longs  for  the  feel  of  solid  rock  under  its  feet,  as  it 
was  under  the  feet  of  its  fathers,  but  it  cannot  find  it 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART  9T 

where  its  fathers  found  it.  Times  have  changed,  and 
the  thoughts  of  men  have  changed  with  them.  The 
modern  mind  has  scant  respect  for  forms  and  formulas, 
for  dogmas  and  decrees  of  councils;  but  it  has  a  pro- 
found respect  for  facts,  and  it  knows  them  when  it  sees 
them.  And  there  is  no  fact  it  is  so  seriously  concerned 
about,  whatever  it  may  say  to  the  contrary,  as  the  stu- 
pendous fact  of  God  and  our  duty  to  Him.  Convince 
it  of  that  fact,  and  you  take  its  feet  out  of  the  miry 
clay  and  set  them  upon  a  rock  and  establish  its  goings; 
shake  its  faith  in  that  fact,  and  you  take  away  the  very 
foundation  of  its  soul  and  leave  it,  like  Atlas,  with  the 
world  on  its  back  and  nothing  to  stand  on.  That  is  the 
fundamental  fact  which  gives  significance  to  all  other 
facts.  If  there  is  no  God,  from  whom  are  all  things  and 
to  whom  are  all  things,  if  there  is  no  heart  at  the  heart  of 
things  and  no  hand  at  the  helm  of  things,  then  nothing 
else  matters  very  much.  Whether  we  feast  and  be  merry, 
or  fast  and  be  sad,  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing  in  the 
end,  because  it  amounts  to  nothing.  We  build  our  little 
house  of  cards,  and  the  wind  blows  it  away,  or  we  die 
and  leave  it,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it. 

Modern  science  is  at  its  wits'  end,  Elisha.  All  roads 
have  led  it  to  Rome,  but  none  of  its  keys  will  unlock 
the  gates  of  the  Eternal  City.  It  has  arrived  by  in- 
vestigation and  experiment  upon  the  borders  of  the  un- 
seen world,  only  to  find  that  its  chosen  processes  of 
thought  cannot  get  it  any  further.  They  are  out  of 
place  there.  It  surmises  that  there  is  more  to  the  uni- 
verse than  it  has  discovered  or  dreamed  of  in  its  phi- 
losophy, but  it  does  not  yet  appear  what  it  is.  Astrono- 
mers were  practically  convinced  that  the  planet  Neptune 
was  there  long  before  it  was  actually  discovered.    It  had 


98  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

to  be  there  to  account  for  the  behaviour  of  the  other 
planets.  And  so  science  is  pretty  well  convinced  that 
God  is  there.  He  has  to  be  there  to  account  for  the  be- 
haviour of  other  things.  But  it  has  not  yet  discovered 
Him,  and  it  will  not  on  the  road  which  it  has  been 
travelling.  He  is  not  to  be  come  at  in  that  way.  It  is 
squarely  up  against  the  unseen  world  with  no  clue  to  its 
discovery.  Greek  thought  was  in  very  much  the  same 
fix  when  Jesus  came.  It  had  travelled  the  same  road, 
and  was  held  up  at  the  same  point,  where  the  human 
mind  always  stops  at  the  end  of  its  tether;  and,  when 
the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God,  it  pleased  Him  by  the 
foolishness  of  a  manger  to  show  it  another  way.  He  is 
not  arrived  at  upon  the  steps  of  a  syllogism,  but  upon  the 
beams  of  a  Cross.  We  may  take  Him  for  granted,  but 
that  is  not  enough.  God,  in  some  manner  and  under  some 
name,  has  become  the  working  hypothesis  of  modern 
thought,  but  a  working  hypothesis  is  not  sufficient  for  pur- 
poses of  life.  The  world  wants  something  more  than  that, 
because  life  is  more  than  thought.  It  is  feeling  after  God, 
if  haply  it  may  find  Him,  but  it  is  looking  in  the  wrong 
place  and  in  the  wrong  way.  It  must  somehow  take  a  new 
tack,  and  pursue  a  different  course,  but  it  does  not  know 
how.  All  its  training  has  been  in  another  direction.  If 
you  can  get  it  out  of  its  blind  alley,  Elisha,  and  set  its  feet 
upon  the  right  road,  you  will  have  done  it  an  inestimable 
service.  But  you  must  have  found  Him  yourself  first, 
to  the  assurance  of  your  own  soul,  and  He  must  be  a 
living  fact  in  your  own  heart.  A  man  can  testify  only 
to  that  which  he  has  seen  and  heard.  All  other  evidence 
is  ruled  out  of  court. 

Many  things  will  bid   for  your  time  and  attention, 
Elisha.    The  wisdom  of  this  world  will  cry  to  you  from 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  HEART  99 

the  street  corners,  and  the  crossing  of  the  paths.  She 
hath  builded  her  house,  and  hewn  out  her  seven  pillars; 
she  hath  set  her  table  in  order,  and  sent  out  her  maidens. 
She  will  waylay  you  with  her  messengers.  But  be  not 
deceived.  The  root  of  the  matter  is  not  there.  Get  wis- 
dom, Elisha,  all  that  you  can  honestly,  and  culture,  and 
information  upon  all  available  subjects ;  but,  with  all  your 
getting,  get  understanding,  that  you  may  discern  between 
the  temporal  and  the  eternal,  between  that  which  is  of 
God  and  that  which  is  not.  Else  you  may  build  your 
house  upon  the  sand,  and  cause  others  to  build  upon  it. 


CHAPTER  X 


THE  WILL  TO  RECEIVE 


Prove  all  things,  Elisha,  that  are  presented  to  you  for 
proof  and  are  capable  of  proof,  either  by  trial  of  evi- 
dence or  the  trial  of  your  own  experience,  and  then  hold 
fast  that  which  is  true.  Not  before  it  has  been  proved, 
but  after. 

There  are  two  ways  of  taking  strange  things,  whether 
they  be  strange  doctrines  or  strange  men,  and  you  will 
find  people  of  both  ways.  There  are  those  who  shut  their 
eyes  and  open  their  mouths,  and  blindly  swallow  the  whole 
thing,  and  there  are  those  who  open  their  eyes  and  shut 
their  mouths,  and  flatly  refuse  the  whole  thing.  The  first 
swallow  a  great  deal  of  error  along  with  the  truth.  The 
second  refuse  a  great  deal  of  truth  along  with  the  error. 
Both  are  right,  and  both  are  wrong,  Elisha;  half  right, 
and  half  wrong.  Most  all  grain  needs  winnowing.  Few 
things  are  ready  for  food  in  their  natural  state.  Keep 
your  mouth  open  to  new  truth,  but  look  at  it  before  you 
swallow  it.  Winnow  it  well  with  your  eyes.  That  is 
what  they  are  put  over  your  mouth  for,  to  see  what  goes 
into  it;  otherwise,  they  might  as  well  be  in  the  back  of 
your  head. 

Folks  are  so  queer,  Elisha.  They  are  so  much  alike  in 
some  ways,  and  so  different  in  others.  That  is  the  rea- 
son it  is  so  hard  to  classify  them.  There  are  some  people 
who  take  pleasure  in  believing  things ;  and  the  harder  the 

100 


THE  WILL  TO  RECEIVE  101 

things,  the  more  they  delight  in  them.  They  believe  that 
the  whale  swallowed  Jonah,  that  the  sun  stood  still  for 
Joshua,  and  that  the  Red  Sea  parted  to  let  the  Israelites 
through  and  closed  over  the  Egyptians.  They  believe  all 
the  hard  things,  and  are  only  sorry  that  there  are  not 
harder  things  to  believe.  They  would  just  as  soon  believe 
that  Jonah  swallowed  the  whale,  if  the  story  read  that 
way.  They  thank  the  Lord  that  they  are  not  as  other 
men,  who  will  not  believe  what  they  cannot  understand. 
And  then  there  are  others  who  take  pleasure  in  doubting 
things.  Jesus  may  have  turned  water  to  wine,  but  they 
doubt  it.  He  may  have  walked  on  the  sea,  but  they  don't 
see  how  he  could.  He  may  have  risen  from  the  dead, 
but  they  were  not  there.  They  shake  their  heads  over  all 
the  strange  tales,  and  wonder  why  it  is  that  men  are  called 
upon  to  believe  such  hard  things.  They  thank  the  Lord 
that  they  are  not  as  other  men,  who  believe  just  anything 
that  is  told  them.  They  would  not  believe  the  Jonah  story, 
if  they  saw  it  with  their  eyes.  And  so  they  go  about  play- 
ing the  Pharisee,  the  one  with  their  beliefs,  the  other  with 
their  doubts,  as  if  there  were  any  particular  virtue  in 
either  of  them.  Belief  is  good  when  it  rests  upon  sure 
foundations,  and  doubt  is  good  when  it  leads  to  honest 
investigation;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  a  man  should 
boast  of  either,  or  flaunt  it  in  the  face  of  God  or  man. 

Don't  be  afraid  to  doubt,  Elisha,  where  there  is  room 
for  doubt ;  and  don't  be  afraid  to  believe,  where  there  is 
ground  for  belief.  But  make  no  boast  of  either.  Fear 
only  to  believe  a  lie,  and  seek  only  to  know  the  truth. 
And  when  you  are  convinced  of  the  truth,  accept  it  at  all 
hazards.  Don't  dally  with  it.  Don't  halt  or  hesitate. 
Don't  wait  to  see  whether  others  receive  it  or  reject  it. 
Don't  ask  whether  it  is  popular  or  unpopular,  whether  it 


102  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

will  bring  you  gain  or  loss.  Receive  it  into  a  good  and 
honest  heart,  let  it  lead  where  it  will.  It  may  not  be  pleas- 
ant, it  may  not  be  profitable.  It  may  run  counter  to  what 
you  have  hitherto  believed,  it  may  endanger  the  estab- 
lished order  upon  which  you  live.  No  matter.  At  what- 
ever cost  to  previous  opinion,  at  whatever  sacrifice  of 
place  or  position,  let  the  stranger  in.  The  heavenly  vision 
does  not  always  lead  along  the  line  of  least  resistance.  It 
did  not  lead  Paul  that  way.  He  was  going  in  that  direc- 
tion when  it  met  him,  and  it  faced  him  about  and  headed 
him  the  other  way.  It  led  him  to  prison  and  persecution, 
to  danger  and  death.  It  made  enemies  out  of  his  former 
friends,  and  turned  against  him  the  very  fires  of  persecu- 
tion which  he  had  helped  to  kindle.  There  is  no  telling 
to  what  lengths  it  may  lead  you,  Elisha,  or  to  what  sacri- 
fices; but  you  can  be  assured  of  one  thing.  It  will  not 
lead  you  astray. 

Be  cautious,  Elisha,  but  not  to  the  point  of  cowardice. 
Caution  becometh  a  prophet,  but  it  easily  runs  to  excess. 
It  may  keep  us  from  going  too  fast,  or  it  may  cause  us  to 
go  too  slow.  It  is  well  to  have  brakes  on  your  wagon, 
especially  when  it  is  hitched  to  a  star;  but  you  should 
know  when  to  use  them.  They  are  not  meant  to  be  used 
when  you  are  going  up  hill,  and  progress  is  an  uphill 
business.  Caution  is  in  order  so  long  as  the  truth  is  in 
doubt;  but  it  is  out  of  order  the  moment  doubt  disap- 
pears, and  the  truth  is  clear.  Conservatism  is  a  splendid 
safeguard  when  it  is  directed  against  error,  but  it  becomes 
an  instrument  of  evil  when  it  is  turned  against  the  truth. 
It  saved  England  from  the  vagaries  of  Puritanism,  and 
Europe  from  the  follies  of  the  French  Revolution;  but 
it  also  established  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  proclaimed 
St.  Bartholomew's  day,  and  lighted  the  fires  of  Smith- 


THE  WILL  TO  RECEIVE  103 

field.  Beware  of  it,  Elisha.  It  easily  becomes  a  habit  of 
mind.  Walls  are  good  for  protection  against  enemies, 
but  they  should  have  gates  in  them,  and  watch-towers  on 
them;  watch-towers  from  which  God's  coming  messen- 
gers may  be  seen,  and  gates  to  admit  them  when  they 
arrive.  The  prophet  is  a  keeper  of  souls.  He  should  let 
in  nothing  that  is  false.  He  should  keep  out  nothing  that 
is  true. 

There  are  those,  and  prophets  among  them,  I   fear, 
Elisha,  who  receive  new  truth  reluctantly,  as  though  they 
begrudged  the  world  its  progress.    They  behold  the  widen- 
ing horizon  with  alarm,  and  tremble  for  the  ark  of  God 
every  time  a  new  hand  is  laid  upon  it.    They  are  content 
with  the  old  world,  and  look  for  no  new  ones  beyond  the 
sea.    Not  so  the  Master.    There  was  nothing  that  so  de- 
lighted his  eyes  as  to  come  upon  a  little  bit  of  new  terri- 
tory in  an  unexpected  quarter,  to  discover  great  capacity 
for  character  in  a  publican  or  great  capacity  for  faith  in 
a  Roman  centurion.     It  did  his  soul  good  to  see  simple 
fishermen  taking  hold  of  the  things  of  the  kingdom,  when 
they  were  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  the  wise  and  prudent. 
He  looked  forward  with  joy  to  the  coming  of  multitudes 
from  the  east  and  west  and  north  and  south  to  sit  down 
with  Abraham  and  Isaac  in  the  kingdom,  though  he  was 
sorry  to  see  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shut  out.     He 
was  always  glad  when  in  the  far  country  he  saw  the  heart 
of  a  prodigal  turn  again  home.     He  was  not  offended 
by  the  approaches  of  publicans  and  sinners.    He  rejoiced 
to  see  the  tree  of  life  put  forth  new  leaves.     The  Phari- 
sees were  likewise  surprised  to  find  faith  in  a  Gentile,  or 
signs  of  repentance  in  a  publican,  but  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  it  was  not  a  very  pleasant  surprise.    There  was  little 


104  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

joy  in  their  hearts  over  the  prodigal's  returning,  and  scant 
•welcome  for  him  home. 

It  is  a  sad  day  when  men  find  more  joy  in  the  evening 
than  in  the  morning,  when  they  take  greater  delight  in  the 
approach  of  winter  than  in  the  return  of  summer.  Spring 
to  the  Master  was  the  most  delightful  season  of  the  year, 
because  it  was  the  time  of  returning  birds,  and  swelling 
buds,  and  blossoming  meadows.  There  is  something  radi- 
cally wrong  with  the  heart  that  does  not  leap  up  to  receive 
new  truth.  It  has  lost  the  elasticity  of  youth.  Never  did 
the  gates  of  Jerusalem  open  so  gladly  as  when  they  let  in 
the  ark  of  God.  The  shout  of  it  can  be  heard  to  this  day. 
"Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye 
everlasting  doors,  that  the  King  of  glory  may  come  in." 
That  is  the  way  our  hearts  should  swing  open  to  our  God, 
Elisha.    He  does  not  feel  that  He  is  an  intruder  then. 

Hospitality  to  new  truth  does  not  mean  disloyalty  to 
the  old.  We  do  not  have  to  give  up  the  old  in  order  to 
receive  the  new.  We  have  to  forswear  one  country  when 
we  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  another,  but  not  so  with 
two  truths.  Their  sovereignty  is  not  exclusive,  but  in- 
clusive. Some  folks  have  queer  notions  of  progress, 
Elisha.  They  seem  to  think  that  when  the  world  ad- 
vances at  the  front,  it  has  to  retrench  in  the  rear,  as  if  the 
kingdom  of  truth  were  just  so  big,  and  could  not  gain 
ground  on  one  side  without  losing  it  on  the  other.  That 
is  not  the  way  nations  enlarge  their  boundaries.  They  do 
not  acquire  new  territory  at  the  sacrifice  of  old.  Spain 
did  not  give  up  her  possessions  in  the  Old  world  when 
she  took  possession  of  the  New.  The  present  does  not 
become  the  future  at  the  expense  of  the  past.  We  must 
turn  our  backs  upon  the  past  when  we  face  the  future, 


THE  WILL  TO  RECEIVE  105 

but  that  do€s  not  mean  that  we  disown  it  or  blot  it  out. 
It  only  means  that  we  have  left  it  behind. 

Some  people  are  always  trying  to  raise  a  quarrel  be- 
tween the  new  and  the  old.  But  there  should  be  no  enmity 
between  them.  They  are  not  necessarily  at  variance,  the 
one  with  the  other.  No  two  of  God's  truths  ever  conflict. 
New  error  may  conflict  with  old  truth,  or  new  truth  with 
old  error ;  but  never  new  truth  with  old  truth.  Truth  does 
not  conflict  with  truth,  but  only  with  error.  God's  world 
is  not  divided  against  itself.  All  his  truths  run  parallel 
with  each  other.  They  may  seem  to  run  together  in  the 
distance,  like  the  rails  of  a  track,  but  they  do  not.  It  is 
only  an  illusion  of  our  eyes.  There  is  always  daylight 
between  them,  even  at  the  point  of  nearest  approach.  They 
do  not  contradict  each  other.  We  may  not  be  able  to 
reconcile  them,  but  that  does  not  mean  that  they  cannot  be 
reconciled.  It  may  only  mean  that  the  truth  is  broader 
than  the  measure  of  our  minds,  and  deeper  than  the  reach 
of  our  plummets.  Don^t  be  alarmed,  Elisha,  when  you 
find  two  truths  which  seem  to  contradict  each  other,  or 
too  hastily  conclude  that  you  must  choose  between  them. 
Don't  give  up  either,  if  they  appear  to  be  true.  Hold  fast 
to  both,  and  wait  for  light.  Time  will  reconcile  them,  or 
prove  one  or  the  other  untrue. 

After  all,  most  new  truth  is  only  more  of  old  truth,  or 
old  truth  in  a  new  light.  So  often  men  have  thought  that 
they  had  discovered  a  new  truth,  when  in  reality  they  had 
only  seen  the  other  side  of  an  old  truth.  The  New  World 
was  only  the  other  half  of  the  Old  World.  The  truth  has 
many  sides,  and  they  are  not  all  seen  at  once.  Here  a 
little,  there  a  little,  we  discover  them.  Each  generation 
adds  its  little  mite  to  God's  great  sum.  The  present  is 
debtor  to  the  past)  and  creditor  to  the  future.    Every  great 


106  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

discoverer  has  had  his  predecessors.  Newton  had  his, 
and  Copernicus  his,  and  Columbus  his.  We  know  in  part, 
and  we  prophesy  in  part.  It  is  not  given  to  any  one  man, 
or  to  any  one  generation,  to  see  the  truth  entire.  When 
the  world  finally  sees  it  whole,  it  will  be  only  after  many 
generations  have  seen  it  in  part.  All  the  great  discoveries 
have  been  gradual  growths  from  seed  thoughts,  and  not 
sudden  revelations.  If  there  has  been  a  sudden  burst  of 
light,  it  was  only  because  the  world  had  worked  painfully 
up  to  the  point  where  the  light  could  be  seen.  It  was  the 
heavenly  vision  at  the  end  of  a  long  journey.  ''First  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  and  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.'* 
That  is  the  way  all  the  great  truths  have  come,  as  the  corn 
comes  out  of  the  earth,  as  the  rivers  come  out  of  the  sea. 
Growth  is  God's  way  of  bringing  things  to  pass. 

And  growth  is  by  addition,  Elisha,  not  by  subtraction. 
The  trees  do  not  throw  away  last  year's  growth  when  they 
begin  to  put  forth  new  leaves.  They  begin  this  year  where 
they  left  off  last  year,  and  push  their  branches  on  toward 
heaven.  At  the  end  of  each  season,  their  limbs  are  a  little 
longer,  and  their  roots  a  little  deeper  in  the  earth.  Nature 
never  throws  away  a  particle  of  dust,  nor  gives  up  an  inch 
of  ground  she  has  gained.  She  never  creates  new  material 
where  she  can  make  use  of  old.  She  made  the  human  ear 
out  of  an  old  gill-slit,  and  possibly  many  other  human 
things  out  of  old  animal  things  that  had  been  outgrown. 
Though  I  doubt  if  she  fashioned  the  human  soul  out  of  an 
old  animal  soul  that  had  been  outgrown.  We  may  have 
inherited  our  bodies  from  the  beasts,  but  not  the  spiritual 
part  of  us.  That  came  down  from  above,  not  up  from 
beneath.  That  which  is  bom  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that 
which  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit.  Most  of  nature's  new 
creations  are  only  old  things  made  over.     She  uses  the 


THE  WILL  TO  RECEIVE  107 

fruit  of  one  generation  for  the  seed  of  the  next,  and  tries 
to  improve  upon  her  work  a  Httle  in  each  new  generation. 
We  know  more  than  our  fathers  did,  and  our  children 
will  know  more  than  we  do.  There  is  no  occasion,  how- 
ever, for  one  generation  to  play  the  Pharisee  to  another. 
It  was  not  our  fathers'  fault  that  they  lived  before  us, 
nor  is  it  to  our  credit  that  we  live  after  them. 

We  should  not  despise  the  wisdom  of  our  fathers.  The 
world  has  not  lived  all  these  years  in  vain.  Nor  should 
we  be  satisfied  with  it.  The  end  is  not  yet.  We  should 
begin  where  our  fathers  leave  off,  but  shame  on  us  if  our 
children  find  us  there.  We  cannot  pay  our  fathers  the 
debt  we  owe  them.  They  are  dead  and  gone.  We  can 
only  pay  it  to  our  children.  We  should  look  back  only  to 
keep  our  bearing,  and  to  get  the  direction  of  progress, 
that  we  may  project  it  into  the  future  along  the  same  lines. 
And  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  the  future,  Elisha.  Never 
fear.  Don't  be  afraid  of  falling  off  the  edge  of  the  world. 
It  is  a  long  way  back  to  the  beginning,  but  it  is  perhaps  a 
longer  way  forward  to  the  end ;  and  the  best  is  yet  to  be. 
The  golden  age  is  not  behind  us.  It  is  yonder  "where  the 
days  bury  their  suns,  in  the  dear  golden  west.'* 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   ANSWER   OF   THE   TONGUE 

The  prophet  should  not  look  upon  himself  as  the  final 
depository  of  truth,  Elisha.  He  should  not  be  content  sim- 
ply to  stock  his  own  soul  with  it.  It  is  his  to  have  and  to 
hold,  but  not  to  keep  for  himself.  Freely  he  has  received, 
freely  he  should  give.  He  is  a  man  before  he  is  a  prophet, 
but  he  is  also  a  prophet  after  he  is  a  man.  "The  priest's 
lips  should  keep  knowledge,  and  his  people  should  seek 
the  law  at  his  mouth ;  for  he  is  the  messenger  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts  to  them."  He  should  not  be  a  miser  of  truth, 
but  a  minister  of  it.  He  must  pass  it  on  to  others,  and  in 
so  doing  he  does  not  rob  himself.    Rather  the  contrary. 

There  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God,  Elisha.  He 
sends  His  rain  upon  the  just  and  unjust  alike,  and  so  He 
gives  His  truth.  It  is  not  for  one,  but  for  all ;  not  for  an 
elect  few,  but  for  the  needy  many ;  not  for  the  schools,  but 
for  the  market-place ;  not  for  classes,  but  for  the  masses ; 
not  for  academic  purposes,  but  for  practical  purposes  of 
life  and  character;  not  for  scribes  and  Pharisees  only,  but 
for  publicans  and  sinners  as  well.  It  knows  no  aris- 
tocracy, and  recognises  no  superior  claim. 

Don't  be  afraid  to  part  with  the  most  precious  truths 
to  the  most  unpromising  people,  Elisha.  The  Master  was 
not.  The  first  of  all  truths  was  spoken,  not  to  the  Seventy 
in  solemn  assembly,  but  to  a  Samaritan  woman,  and  not  a 
very  good  woman  at  that,  at  a  chance  meeting  by  Jacob's 

io8 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE    109 

well  How  painfully  had  sage  and  seer  and  philosopher 
groped  for  that  truth!  The  Pharisees  would  not  even 
have  spoken  to  the  woman,  much  less  have  declared  to  her 
so  choice  a  truth.  And  to  whom  did  Jesus  first  declare 
Himself  without  ambiguity?  Not  to  the  High  Priest  who 
stood  in  the  room  of  Aaron,  nor  to  the  Pharisees  who  sat 
in  Moses's  seat;  but  to  a  poor  beggar  man  in  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem.  "Who  is  He,  Lord,  that  I  may  believe  on 
Him  ?"  Not  that  I  may  try  him  with  questions,  or  see  him 
perform  a  miracle,  but  that  I  may  believe  on  Him.  *'Thou 
hast  both  seen  Him,  and  it  is  He  that  talketh  with  thee." 
He  left  Annas  and  Herod  and  Pilate  to  guess,  but  He  did 
not  leave  this  poor  man  in  doubt.  They  that  were  whole 
needed  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  were  sick.  He  came 
not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance.  He 
had  a  word  for  the  elder  brother,  and  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  speak  it,  but  His  mission  was  to  the  prodigal  son. 

The  words  of  Jesus  have  to  do  with  the  choicest  goods 
of  the  soul,  and  they  were  spoken  for  the  most  part  to  the 
disowned  and  disinherited  of  earth.  He  did  not  cast  His 
pearls  before  swine,  but  there  were  no  swine  among  God's 
children.  Some  of  them  had  fallen  among  swine,  but  they 
were  not  swine.  They  were  as  far  from  swine  as  the  east 
is  from  the  west,  as  man  is  from  beast.  Between  them 
and  swine  there  was  a  great  gulf  fixed,  the  gulf  which 
divides  flesh  from  spirit.  The  best  of  truths  were  none 
too  good  for  the  worst  of  men.  He  drew  aside  His  skirts 
from  no  one.  The  smallest  were  not  too  humble,  and  the 
lowest  were  not  too  vile.  Others  sometimes  feared  for 
Him,  but  he  never  feared  for  Himself.  His  disciples 
would  have  kept  little  children  from  Him,  and  the  Phari- 
sees would  have  kept  Him  from  publicans  and  sinners; 
but  He  rebuked  them  all,  and  opened  His  arms  to  the 


110  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

children,  and  the  gates  of  His  kingdom  to  publicans  and 
sinners.  He  was  never  too  busy  to  notice  little  children, 
and  never  too  good  to  associate  v^ith  sinners. 

And  the  Pharisees  are  not  all  dead  yet,  Elisha.  They 
are  still  trying,  in  their  mistaken  zeal,  to  shield  Him  from 
rough  contact  with  the  world,  still  trying  to  protect  Him 
from  His  friends  as  well  as  from  His  enemies.  They  lock 
Him  up  in  cloisters,  and  veil  Him  with  doctrines,  and  hide 
Him  behind  stained-glass  windows.  They  dissect  Him  in 
their  schools,  and  test  Him  in  their  laboratories,  and  try 
Him  with  scalpel  and  microscope,  until  His  own  mother 
would  not  know  Him.  We  ask  for  a  Man,  and  they  give 
us  a  lay  figure  in  philosophy.  We  look  for  His  cross,  and 
find  that  it  has  been  turned  into  a  crossbeam  upon  which 
to  hang  dogma.  They  have  taken  away  our  Lord,  and  we 
know  not  where  they  have  laid  Him.  All  that  they  tell  us 
may  be  true,  but  we  long  somehow  to  get  away  from  it  all 
to  the  old  sunny  days  in  Galilee.  Don't  mistake  the  long- 
ing in  the  eyes  that  will  look  up  into  yours,  Elisha.  They 
would  see  Jesus,  and  not  a  picture  of  Him.  The  world 
wants  Him,  and  not  a  theory  of  Him.  It  went  out  in  mul- 
titudes to  hear  Him  once,  neglecting  its  work  and  forget- 
ting to  eat;  and  it  will  do  it  again,  if  you  give  it  a  chance. 
Bring  Him  out  of  the  cloister,  and  strip  away  the  grave- 
clothes  in  which  men  have  buried  Him.  Give  Him  to  the 
man  on  the  street.  Let  Him  loose  in  the  crowds.  They 
will  jostle  Him  in  their  wild  passion,  and  touch  His  gar- 
ments with  their  rough  hands;  but  never  fear,  Elisha. 
He  does  not  shrink  from  the  touch.  He  understands. 
His  own  hands  were  hard  with  homely  toil.  Leave  Him 
alone  with  the  common  people.  He  will  take  care  of 
them,  and  they  will  take  care  of  Him. 

God's  word  is  for  all  who  will  hear  it,  Elisha,  and  you 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE         111 

cannot  tell  who  will  hear  until  it  is  spoken.  It  sometimes 
meets  with  rejection  in  the  most  likely  quarters,  and  with 
acceptance  in  the  most  unlikely.  Pharisees  may  turn  a 
deaf  ear  to  it,  and  publicans  hear  it  gladly.  You  can  never 
tell.  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  will,  and  thou  hearest 
the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  bringeth  the 
word,  or  whither  it  will  carry  it.  Cast  your  bread  broad- 
cast upon  the  waters.  It  will  find  hungry  souls  some- 
where, and  feed  them. 

Never  fear  for  your  message,  Elisha.  God  will  take 
care  of  it.  And  never  fear  for  the  messenger.  God  will 
take  care  of  him.  It  does  not  matter  so  much  what  hap- 
pens to  the  messenger  after  he  has  delivered  his  message, 
whether  men  delight  to  honour  him  or  cast  out  his  name 
as  evil;  but  God  will  see  to  that.  Not  a  sparrow  falls 
without  His  notice.  He  does  not  promise  you  ease,  or 
honour,  or  immunity  from  hardship ;  but  He  does  promise 
that  not  one  hair  of  your  head  shall  be  eternally  harmed. 

God's  first  word  to  the  prophet  is,  "See,"  and  the  sec- 
ond, "Declare  what  thou  seest."  Declare  it  at  all  hazards. 
Whether  men  like  it  or  not,  whether  they  hear  it  with  joy 
or  reject  it  with  scorn.  It  is  the  prophet's  business  to 
speak  the  truth,  and  the  people's  business  to  hear  it.  God 
will  hold  him  to  account  for  the  way  it  is  spoken,  and 
them  for  the  way  it  is  received.  Woe  to  him  if  he  does 
not  speak  it,  woe  to  them  if  they  do  not  hear  it.  Your 
message  will  not  always  be  pleasant  to  men,  Elisha;  not 
if  you  try  to  please  God.  It  will  rebuke,  and  chasten,  and 
condemn;  and  men  do  not  like  to  be  condemned.  Dull 
men  will  misunderstand  you,  and  bad  men  will  hate  you. 
But  be  not  afraid  of  their  faces.  Cry  aloud,  and  spare  not. 
Have  no  fear  but  the  fear  of  God  before  your  eyes.    If 


112  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

you  seek  to  please  men,  you  will  not  be  the  servant  of 
Christ. 

You  must  have  convictions,  but  you  must  also  have  the 
courage  of  them.  And  you  will  have  need  of  courage, 
and  that  of  the  highest  order.  The  courage  of  the  sol- 
dier is  one,  and  that  of  the  prophet  is  another.  The 
chances  are  that  you  will  never  be  called  upon  to  face 
death  on  the  battlefield,  high,  heroic,  romantic,  with  the 
world  looking  on ;  but  you  will  be  called  upon  many  times 
to  face  it  in  solitary  places,  slow,  cruel,  unromantic,  with 
no  eye  on  you  but  the  All-seeing.  It  is  hard  to  play  the 
hero  there,  Elisha,  where  no  one  knows,  or  cares  perhaps, 
that  you  are  playing  it.  Flesh  and  blood  has  suffered 
much  in  this  world,  and  endured  many  hardships  on  land 
and  sea,  but  nowhere  more  than  in  that  lonely  place  be- 
tween God  and  man,  where  the  passions  of  one  are  for  ever 
at  war  with  the  counsels  of  the  other.  How  many  noble 
souls  have  been  wrung  there,  how  many  great  hearts 
broken.  And  the  peril  is  still  there,  Elisha,  and  the  risk 
to  life  and  limb.  Don't  presume  too  much  upon  our 
boasted  civilisation,  or  be  misled  by  its  show  of  refine- 
ment. The  beast  has  shed  its  tail,  but  not  its  claws.  They 
are  only  sheathed.  The  world  is  not  less  cruel,  but  only 
more  refined  in  its  cruelty.  It  no  longer  burns  at  the 
stake,  or  stretches  upon  the  gibbet ;  but  it  still  knows  how 
to  hate  with  cruel  hatred,  and  it  has  many  modern  ways 
of  making  its  displeasure  felt.  It  has  not  thrown  away 
its  instruments  of  torture,  it  has  only  sharpened  them  to 
a  finer  edge.  It  still  has  many  secret  thumbscrews  which 
it  knows  how  to  use  with  telling  effect. 

Be  not  deceived,  Elisha,  neither  be  afraid.  You  will 
at  least  win  the  world's  respect  by  telling  it  the  truth, 
whether  you  win  its  good  will  or  not.    You  may  make  it 


THE  ANSWER  OF.  THE  TONGUE         11^ 

your  enemy  by  telling  it  the  truth,  but  it  has  more  respect 
for  an  honest  enemy  than  for  a  time-serv^ing  friend.  It 
may  turn  against  you  to  your  face,  and  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you  with  its  lips;  but  in  its  secret  heart 
it  will  honour  you.  There  is  no  one  whom  the  world  de- 
spises quite  so  much,  whatever  it  may  say  to  the  contrary, 
as  the  man  who  sells  his  soul  to  win  its  praise ;  and  there 
is  no  one  whom  it  respects  quite  so  much,  whatever  it  may 
say  to  the  contrary,  as  the  man  who  braves  its  wrath  to  tell 
it  the  truth.  I  have  been  called  upon  to  bear  some  very 
unpalatable  messages  to  Ahab  in  my  day,  and  have  had 
to  run  for  my  life  more  than  once,  but  even  so  I  daresay 
he  has  more  respect  for  Elijah  than  he  has  for  his  own 
false  prophets.  There  were  two  prophets  in  Florence  in 
the  days  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  but  only  to  one  did 
the  king  send  in  his  last  moments.  Fra  Mariano  had 
prophesied  smooth  things  to  him,  and  Fra  Girolamo  rough 
things;  and  he  had  heaped  honours  upon  one,  and  re- 
proaches upon  the  other;  but  when  he  came  down  to  the 
dark  river,  and  wanted  someone  to  pilot  him  over,  he 
passed  by  the  orator  of  San  Gallo  and  sent  for  the  friar 
of  St.  Mark's,  the  man  who  had  dared  to  tell  him  the 
truth.  We  do  not  care  to  talk  to  a  coward  when  we  go 
to  meet  our  God,  especially  when  we  go  with  such  sins 
on  our  souls  as  those  which  stained  the  life  of  Lorenzo. 

There  is  no  more  arrant  coward  in  all  the  world,  Elisha, 
than  the  man  w^hom  God  sends  with  a  message,  and  yet 
who  fears  to  speak  it.  No  matter  what  ties  his  tongue, 
no  matter  what  considerations  seal  his  lips,  he  is  the  worst 
coward  under  the  sun,  because  he  is  playing  the  coward 
at  the  most  critical  point  of  life.  If  there  is  shame  to  the 
man  who  turns  coward  on  the  threshold  of  his  home, 
where  the  safety  of  his  family  is  imperiled,  or  on  the  bat- 


114  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

tie  field,  where  the  honour  of  his  country  is  at  stake,  how 
much  greater  shame  to  him  who  plays  the  coward  in  the 
house  of  God,  where  men  come  to  seek  the  law  at  his 
mouth.  He  is  betraying  the  counsels  of  high  heaven,  and 
stopping  the  message  of  God  Almighty.  Let  him  declare 
what  he  seeth  at  whatever  peril.  It  may  be  as  much  as  his 
life  is  worth  to  speak  it,  but  let  him  speak  it  nevertheless. 

What  did  you  say,  Elisha  ?  Speak  a  little  louder,  I  am 
rather  hard  of  hearing.  A  man  must  live,  by  fair  means 
or  foul?  No  wonder  you  hesitated  to  speak  it  out.  A 
man  does  not  like  to  hear  himself  say  such  things,  much 
less  to  let  others  hear  him.  Who  told  you  that  you  must 
live,  by  all  means  and  at  all  costs  ?  Jesus  did  not  think  so, 
nor  the  Covenanters,  nor  the  multitudes  of  brave  fellows 
who  have  laid  down  their  young  bodies  for  civilisation  to 
walk  over  to  victory.  Think  you  that  they  loved  life  less 
than  you  and  I  love  it,  or  that  they  would  not  have  gladly 
lived  out  their  days?  They  lived  as  long  as  they  could 
honourably,  and  then  died  honourably,  as  becometh  a  man 
and  a  Christian.  It  is  the  devil's  lie  that  we  must  live  at 
all  hazards.  We  do  not  have  to  live  when  the  world 
charges  too  high  for  life,  and  death  is  less  expensive  to  our 
souls.  We  can  die,  and  leave  our  blood  to  cry  out  against 
the  injustice  of  an  established  order  that  makes  such  a 
death  necessary. 

Look  well  to  your  secret  thoughts,  Elisha,  and  see  that 
they  square  with  the  words  of  your  mouth.  These  are 
times  which  try  the  souls  of  prophets.  The  fathers  have 
eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  on  edge. 
The  thoughts  of  men  are  changing.  We  look  at  old  ques- 
tions from  a  different  angle,  and  see  old  truths  in  a  new 
light.  The  accent  of  the  Gospel  has  shifted,  and  yet  the 
established  order  remains.     The  thoughts  of  our  fathers 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE         115 

are  not  our  thoughts,  nor  are  their  ways  our  ways ;  and 
yet  we  stand  in  our  fathers'  shoes,  and  preach  from  their 
pulpits.  There  is  the  peril,  Elisha,  and  it  is  as  subtle  as  the 
serpent  which  beguiled  Eve.  You  may  feel  called  upon  to 
preach  your  fathers'  gospel,  whether  you  believe  it  or  not. 
Beware,  Elisha,  beware.  The  man  who  believes  one  thing 
and  preaches  another  is  a  hypocrite  before  high  heaven, 
and  it  is  time  we  were  calling  things  by  their  right  name. 
We  have  dodged  the  issue  all  too  long.  We  are  beginning 
to  hear  vague  whispers  about  "ministerial  honesty";  not 
to  our  faces,  but  behind  our  backs,  and  it  is  there  that  the 
world  says  what  it  thinks  about  us.  It  is  only  a  straw, 
but  it  tells  which  way  the  wind  is  blowing.  The  world  is 
beginning  to  have  its  doubts.  Does  the  present-day 
prophet  come  by  his  commission  honestly,  and  does  he 
keep  it  honestly?  Does  he  subscribe  to  anything  that  he 
does  not  believe  in  his  secret  heart  ?  Did  he  tell  the  whole 
truth  to  his  brethren  before  they  laid  hands  on  him,  and 
does  he  tell  it  to  his  people  on  Sunday?  Is  he  keeping 
back  anything?  Has  he  seen  any  new  light  that  he  is 
hiding  under  a  bushel  for  fear  of  men? 

It  is  time  we  were  asking  these  questions  of  our  secret 
souls,  Elisha,  and  answering  them  honestly  before  God. 
We  are  not  on  the  witness  stand,  to  be  sure,  under  oath 
to  tell  "the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth";  but  we  are  in  a  far  more  sacred  place,  on  our 
honour  to  declare  God's  whole  counsel  for  our  generation ; 
nothing  more,  nothing  less.  If  we  cannot  either  believe 
what  we  preach,  or  preach  what  we  believe,  then  in  all 
honesty  let  us  unfrock  ourselves  of  the  prophet's  mantle. 
Let  us  have  done  with  doubt  and  dissembling.  The  world 
wants  to  know  just  where  we  stand,  and  it  has  a  right  to 
know.    It  is  time  we  spoke  out,  and  let  it  know  what  is  in 


116  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

our  secret  hearts.  If  there  is  anything  there  contrary  to 
our  preaching,  it  will  know;  and  if  not,  it  will  know.  Let 
us  come  out  into  the  open  and  declare  ourselves.  The 
soul  of  the  prophet  should  be  as  luminous  as  day. 

Make  a  clean  breast  of  it,  Elisha.  Unburden  your  soul 
of  the  whole  truth.  It  will  burn  like  fire  in  your  bones  if 
you  do  not.  And  a  great  peace  will  come  to  you  when 
you  do.  Try  it  and  see.  A  good  woman  once  said  to  me, 
after  the  delivery  of  a  rather  unpalatable  message,  *'I 
hope  you  feel  better  since  you  got  that  out  of  your  sys- 
tem." And  I  did,  Elisha,  decidedly  better.  Not  exactly 
in  the  way  she  meant  to  imply,  to  be  sure ;  but  no  matter. 
She  had  her  say,  and  I  had  had  mine.  The  burden  of  the 
word  of  the  Lord  had  been  removed  in  both  cases.  There 
is  much  pleasure  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  and  also  in  its 
possession,  but  more  in  the  expression  of  it.  It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  The  truth  craves  expres- 
sion just  as  naturally  as  the  body  craves  exercise.  Nature 
has  put  a  premium  upon  the  satisfaction  of  all  wholesome 
appetite.  It  is  good  to  drink  when  you  are  thirsty,  and 
rest  when  you  are  tired ;  and  so  it  is  good  to  speak  when 
you  have  something  to  say.  But  it  is  a  great  hardship  to 
speak  when  you  haven't  anything  to  say,  Elisha.  It  is 
like  eating  when  you  are  not  hungry.  God  has  put  a 
premium  upon  the  delivery  of  His  word.  If  there  is  satis- 
faction in  giving  people  a  "piece  of  our  mind,"  how  much 
more  should  there  be  in  giving  them  a  piece  of  God's  mind. 
There  is  such  a  sense  of  relief  in  knowing  that  God's  mes- 
sage has  reached  its  destination  in  safety.  It  has  not  mis- 
carried in  our  hands,  but  has  been  delivered  whole  to 
those  to  whom  it  was  sent.  They  may  hate  us  for  it,  or 
love  us,  but  they  know  the  truth  in  either  case.  If  they  go 
on  as  before,  it  will  be  with  their  eyes  open.    Our  skirts 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE         117 

are  clear.  Paul  suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  the  Ephe- 
sians,  and  barely  escaped  with  his  life,  but  it  was  worth 
it  all  to  be  able  to  say  to  them  at  the  last,  *'I  have  not 
shunned  to  declare  unto  you  the  whole  counsel  of  God." 
The  man  who  has  done  that  can  lie  down  and  sleep  his  last 
long  sleep  in  peace.  He  has  unburdened  his  soul  of  the 
word  of  the  Lord. 

Speak  your  mind,  Elisha,  fully  and  frankly ;  but  care- 
fully, especially  if  it  contains  new  truth,  and  you  would 
get  it  a  fair  hearing.  Be  wise  as  a  serpent,  and  harmless 
as  a  dove.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  be  either,  it  is  in- 
finitely hard  to  be  both  at  one  and  the  same  time.  They 
are  so  difficult  of  combination,  and  yet  so  happy  in  com- 
bination, and  so  indispensable  to  the  prophet  who  would 
present  new  truth  acceptably.  There  are  some  people  who 
never  meet  a  stranger;  but  the  great  majority  are  shy 
with  strangers,  and  give  their  confidence  gingerly.  It  is  so 
easy  to  frighten  them  away.  A  single  misstep,  or  mis- 
spoken word,  and  they  are  off  like  a  shy  bird,  and  your 
chance  is  gone.  New  truth  calls  for  mental  readjustments. 
It  means  original  thought,  and  so  very  few  people  like  to 
do  their  own  thinking.  It  is  such  a  bother.  It  is  so  much 
easier  to  farm  it  out  to  others.  You  will  have  to  cross  in- 
grained prejudices,  and  disturb  the  slumbers  of  cherished 
beliefs ;  but  try  to  make  the  crossing  gracefully,  with  *the 
least  possible  friction  and  the  minimum  amount  of  noise. 
If  you  can  get  by  without  waking  old  prejudices  and  an- 
tagonising preconceived  opinions,  you  will  do  well;  but 
you  will  have  to  make  the  crossing  with  the  footfall  of  a 
cat,  if  you  succeed.  They  are  light  sleepers,  and  rise 
up  at  the  voice  of  a  bird.  You  will  have  to  speak  in 
parable,  and  utter  dark  sayings,  not  at  first  understood. 
It  will  require  a  deft  touch,  and  a  well-bridled  tongue. 


118  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

You  will  have  need  of  tact,  and  kindness,  and  almost  in- 
finite patience — the  patience  of  nature  with  growing  trees 
and  ripening  grain,  and  the  patience  of  God  with  plodding 
men  and  women. 

It  is  no  light  task  to  teach  religious  truth  to  this  present 
age,  Elisha.  It  is  a  man-sized  job.  The  times  are  out  of 
joint.  The  world  is  readjusting  its  thinking  and  redraw- 
ing its  boundary  lines.  It  is  making  over  its  mental  maps. 
Men  are  pioneering  in  all  directions.  There  is  much  truth 
in  various  quarters,  but  it  is  still  at  large  in  the  common 
consciousness,  shadowy  and  undefined.  In  many  places 
men  are  standing  at  the  parting  of  the  ways,  uncertain 
which  road  to  take.  They  somehow  fear  that  if  they  take 
either,  they  will  wish  they  had  taken  the  other ;  and  so  in 
many  cases  they  are  taking  neither.  They  are  groping 
about  blindly,  hoping  to  stumble  upon  the  right  path  by 
accident.  A  guess  is  as  good  as  anything  if  it  hits,  and  so 
they  are  guessing.  Who  wall  show  us  any  good?  That 
is  the  question  they  are  asking  on  every  hand,  and  getting 
no  certain  answer.  Never  was  the  world  in  such  sore 
need  of  pathfinders,  and  never  has  pathfinding  been  more 
difficult.  To  sound  a  certain  note  in  this  uncertain  age,  to 
point  to  a  plain  path  where  there  are  so  many  crossing 
and  re-crossing,  to  find  new  paths  for  feet  that  have 
reached  the  end  of  old  ones,  to  present  old  truth  in  a  way 
that  will  not  tire  and  new  truth  in  a  way  that  will  not 
offend ;  that  is  the  work  which  is  cut  out  for  you,  Elisha, 
and  it  is  as  hard  as  nails. 

I  would  not  discourage  you,  Elisha,  or  conceal  from 
you  the  sunny  side  of  your  work.  Nor  would  I  hide  from 
you  its  sterner  side.  I  would  only  forewarn  you,  and  so 
forearm  you  for  your  task.  You  have  hard  sailing  ahead, 
and  you  might  as  well  know  it  beforehand.    God  is  honest 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE         119 

with  His  prophets  and  tells  them  frankly  what  to  expect. 
That  is  the  way  He  tests  them.  H  the  prospect  cows  your 
spirit,  you  are  not  the  man  God  is  looking  for,  and  the 
sooner  you  know  it,  and  the  sooner  He  knows  it,  the  bet- 
ter. If  you  are  looking  for  an  easy  job,  I  would  advise 
you  to  go  hire  yourself  out  to  split  rails,  or  something  like 
that.  You  will  find  plenty  of  tough  timber  among  trees — - 
red  elm,  for  instance,  that  will  resist  the  wedge  to  the  last 
knot,  but  nothing  like  what  you  will  find  in  folks.  Get- 
ting a  wedge  through  the  devious  grain  of  an  elm  is  no 
light  t^sk,  but  it  is  child's  play  beside  getting  the  truth  into 
some  people's  heads.  I  have  tried  both,  and  I  know.  I 
used  to  keep  a  few  old  trees  out  in  my  back  yard,  just  to 
try  myself  out  on  when  I  got  tired  of  fiddling  with  the 
stuff  you  and  I  are  made  of,  Elisha,  and  I  would  com- 
mend it  to  you  as  a  sort  of  safety-valve.  You  will  find  it 
a  mighty  good  way  to  let  off  the  extra  steam  which  accu- 
mulates in  your  bones.  I  have  known  prophets  to  blow 
up  for  lack  of  it. 

If  you  could  just  take  a  sledge-hammer  and  drive  the 
truth  home,  as  you  would  send  a  nail  into  hard  wood,  the 
prophet's  task  would  be  comparatively  easy.  And  you  will 
be  tempted  to  do  just  that,  Elisha,  but  beware.  The  win- 
ning of  men  to  the  truth  is  a  fine  art.  You  cannot  go  about 
it  as  if  you  were  splitting  rails.  It  is  not  a  rail-splitting 
job.  Not  that  a  rail-splitter  could  not  do  it,  if  he  were 
called.  Shepherds  have  done  it,  and  fishermen,  and  car- 
penters. But  it  is  not  to  be  done  with  a  maul  and  wedge. 
The  weapon  of  the  spirit  is  not  a  hammer,  but  a  sword. 
They  both  get  a  man  through  barriers,  but  there  is  a  radi- 
cal difference  in  the  way  they  do  it.  One  hammers  down, 
the  other  pierces  through.  One  leaves  wreck  and  ruin 
behind  it,  the  other  only  a  clean  cut,  if  it  have  a  fine  edge 


120  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

and  be  used  by  a  dexterous  hand.  What  matter  though 
you  get  the  truth  into  a  man's  head,  if  you  pull  his  house 
down  over  his  head  in  doing  it?  A  man  must  have  a 
house  to  live  in,  as  well  as  furniture  to  go  in  it.  When- 
ever a  prophet  leaves  off  fencing  and  thrusting  with  the 
sword  of  the  spirit,  and  falls  to  beating  folks  over  the 
head  with  it,  his  usefulness  is  at  an  end.  I  have  seen 
prophets  laying  about  them  with  the  sword  as  if  it  were 
a  battering-ram.  They  only  do  violence  to  their  weapon, 
and  leave  men  with  sore  heads. 

You  are  on  fire  with  new  truth,  Elisha.  I  can  see  it  in 
your  eyes.  You  can  hardly  wait  to  tell  the  world  about  it. 
I  know.  I  have  felt  the  consuming  heat  of  it  in  my  own 
bones.  But  let  me  drop  a  word  of  warning  before  you  go. 
Perhaps,  after  all,  young  prophets  have  more  need  to  bor- 
row caution  than  courage.  They  are  more  apt  to  err  on 
the  side  of  courage.  It  is  old  men  who  are  in  danger  of 
becoming  over-careful  and  conservative.  I  would  not  for 
the  world  dash  cold  water  on  your  ardour,  Elisha.  God 
forbid.  It  is  fire  from  God's  altar,  and  far  be  it  from  me 
to  put  it  out.  I  would  only  put  you  on  your  guard.  The 
spirits  of  the  prophets  should  be  subject  to  the  prophets. 
Fire  is  a  useful  servant,  but  a  hard  master.  It  warms 
our  hearthstones,  and  lights  our  homes,  when  properly 
handled;  but  it  bums  them  down  over  our  heads,  and 
leaves  us  desolate,  when  it  escapes  from  our  control. 
Some  men  have  ze|al  without  knowledge,  ^nd  others 
knowledge  without  zeal,  as  if  a  man  could  not  have  both 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  Zeal  is  a  consuming  fire  with- 
out knowledge,  and  knowledge  is  a  dead  weight  without 
zeal.  God  means  that  they  should  go  together,  and  what 
God  has  joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder. 

I  would  save  you  much  confusion  of  face,  Elisha,  and 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE    121 

your  people  much  confusion  of  faith.  I  would  at  least 
keep  you  from  the  mistakes  which  I  have  made.  God 
may  not  have  given  me  more  of  this  world's  wisdom  than 
He  has  given  you ;  but  I  have  lived  longer  than  you  have, 
and  have  seen  more  of  life.  I  have  not  been  conspicuously 
successful,  as  men  count  success  in  this  world.  Perhaps 
some  would  consider  me  a  failure.  I  have  had  none  of 
this  world's  honours  heaped  upon  me,  nor  am  I  leaving 
any  of  its  goods  behind.  I  have  not  made  any  great 
noise  in  the  world  to  attract  the  attention  of  men  to  me. 
I  have  not  cared  for  notoriety.  I  have  preferred  humble 
and  honourable  obscurity.  I  have  only  tried  to  do  my 
simple  duty  from  day  to  day,  as  God  gave  me  to  see  it. 
I  have  not  made  any  bones  about  it,  or  any  fuss  over  it. 
But  I  have  lived,  and  learned  from  Hfe,  and  I  would  give 
you  the  benefit  of  the  knowledge  which  I  have  so  hardly 
gained.  I  know  that  advice  is  counted  cheap,  Elisha,,and 
it  is  to  the  man  who  gets  it,  but  not  to  the  man  who  gives 
it.  It  has  cost  me  dearly,  and  I  would  have  someone 
profit  by  it.  It  is  too  late  for  it  to  profit  me  here,  and  I 
know  not  whether  it  will  apply  hereafter.  That  is  one  of 
the  most  unfortunate  things  about  life,  Elisha.  Just  about 
the  time  we  have  fairly  learned  to  live,  and  do  our  work 
with  reasonable  skill,  we  have  to  go  hence  and  leave  it. 
The  knowledge  we  gain  so  patiently  and  painfully  through 
the  years  is  very  largely  thrown  away  if  we  cannot  use 
it  whither  we  go  or  leave  it  to  those  who  follow  in  our 
footsteps. 

If  w^e  could  only  have  the  experience  we  end  with  to 
begin  with,  what  a  world  of  trouble  it  would  save  us. 
But  if  we  cannot  have  our  own  experience  to  begin  with, 
we  can  have  that  of  others.  The  accumulated  wisdom  of 
all  the  ages  is  at  our  service,  if  we  know  how  to  command 


12«  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

it  and  are  wise  enough  to  profit  by  it.  That  is  what  his- 
tory is  for,  Elisha.  Not  for  our  amusement,  or  enter- 
tainment, but  for  our  instruction;  and  happy  is  the  man 
who  reads  it  understandingly.  All  these  things  happened 
unto  them  for  examples,  and  they  are  written  for  our 
admonition,  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come. 
He  is  a  wise  man  who  uses  the  experience  of  others  to 
save  him  the  necessity  of  repeating  the  same  experience 
in  his  own  case  with  the  same  results.  He  begins  where 
his  fathers  leave  off,  instead  of  going  back  to  where  they 
began,  and  so  saves  the  race  the  time  and  trouble  of  trav- 
elling the  same  road  more  than  once  and  thereby  greatly 
accelerates  its  progress.  We  should  take  the  experience 
of  those  who  go  before  us,  and  enrich  it  with  our  own, 
and  pass  it  on  to  those  who  come  after  us ;  so  adding  to 
God's  great  sum,  and  laying  up  treasure  for  each  new 
generation  to  draw  upon. 

You  will  pardon  me,  Elisha,  if  I  cast  my  experience  in 
a  somewhat  negative  form,  for  your  warning  rather  than 
your  instruction.  Not  that  prophesying,  like  the  Bar- 
nacles' theory  of  government,  is  the  art  of  *'how  not  to  do 
it."  Far  from  it.  You  cannot  raise  a  prophet  on  Don'ts 
any  more  than  you  can  raise  a  boy  on  them.  Preaching  is 
positive,  not  negative;  as  positive  as  life,  and  as  pressing. 
It  is  only  because  that  is  the  light  in  which  my  experience 
most  habitually  appears  to  me,  and  so  that  is  the  light  in 
which  I  give  it  to  you.  As  I  look  back  upon  my  life  from 
the  close  of  it,  its  failures  loom  larger  in  my  eyes  than  its 
successes,  perhaps  because  there  have  been  so  many  more 
of  them ;  and  so  I  am  going  to  point  lessons  from  its  fail- 
ures, rather  than  its  successes.  If  I  had  my  life  to  live 
over  again,  I  would  certainly  not  do  some  things  which 
I  have  done,  or  I  would  do  them  in  a  different  way ;  that 


THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  TONGUE    123 

is  the  reason  I  am  telling  you  not  to  do  them,  Elisha,  or 
to  do  them  in  a  different  way.  I  cannot  undo  what  I  have 
done,  but  you  can  keep  from  doing  it.  An  ounce  of  pre- 
vention is  worth  a  pound  of  cure.  That  is  the  meaning  of 
these  Don*ts,  Elisha,  which  may  look  rather  discouraging 
upon  the  face  of  them.  They  are  warning  fingers  held  up 
where  I  have  failed,  that  you  may  avoid  the  same  mis- 
takes, and  so  be  wiser  in  your  generation  than  I  have  been 
in  mine. 


CHAPTER  XII 
don'ts  for  prophets 


Don't  sound  a  trumpet  before  you,  Elisha,  when  you 
go  to  announce  new  truth.  Don't  proclaim  it  from  the 
housetops,  as  if  the  world  were  hard  of  hearing.  Speak 
it  quietly  in  the  ears  of  men,  without  assumption  of 
superior  wisdom.  Let  not  your  left  hand  know  what  your 
right  hand  doeth.  In  vain  is  the  net  set  in  sight  of  a  bird. 
If  you  serve  notice  on  your  hearers  beforehand,  they  will 
be  on  their  guard,  and  the  chances  are  that  you  will  lose 
your  case  before  you  have  stated  it.  Like  as  not  they 
will  not  stop  to  consider  whether  it  is  new  or  old,  if  you 
do  not  tell  them.  You  cannot  tell  how  old  truth  is  from 
the  sound  of  it.  It  will  do  them  just  as  much  good, 
whether  they  know  it  is  new  or  not.  Leave  them  in  bliss- 
ful ignorance  of  the  fact  that  they  are  hearing  new  truth. 
Take  them  unawares.  You  will  not  need  to  deceive,  but 
you  will  have  to  disguise.  Your  Master  did.  His  par- 
ables are  truth  in  disguise.  They  concealed  truth  for  the 
time  being  in  order  to  reveal  it  afterward.  He  caught 
his  hearers  with  guile.  They  had  the  truth,  and  were 
gone  with  it,  before  they  knew  it.  It  was  only  long  after- 
ward, perhaps,  when  they  were  back  with  their  nets  or 
about  their  business  again,  that  they  woke  up  to  the  fact 
that  they  were  in  possession  of  new  truth.    But  it  was  too 

124 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  125 

late  then.  They  had  it,  for  better,  for  worse,  and  there 
was  no  gainsaying  it.  If  you  tread  softly,  Elisha,  and 
put  on  no  airs,  you  will  be  able  to  get  the  truth  into  men's 
ears  before  they  have  time  to  stop  them. 

II 

Don't  thresh  out  the  truth  before  your  people,  Elisha. 
Go  into  your  closet  and  shut  your  door  to  do  that.  The 
pulpit  is  not  a  threshing-floor,  where  the  chaff  is  winnowed 
from  the  wheat ;  it  is  not  a  mill,  where  the  wheat  is  ground 
into  flour ;  it  is  not  an  oven,  where  the  flour  is  baked  into 
bread.  It  is  a  table,  where  the  bread  of  life  is  served  to 
hungry  souls.  All  the  other  processes  are  prior  and  pre- 
liminary to  the  final  process  of  breaking  bread  to  men, 
and  only  the  last  step  should  be  taken  in  public.  Do  your 
winnowing  before  you  go  into  the  pulpit.  If  you  try  to 
do  it  before  your  people,  they  are  liable  to  get  more  chaff 
than  wheat,  because  there  is  so  much  more  of  it,  and  it  is 
so  much  lighter.  The  wheat  falls  to  the  ground,  while  the 
chaff  flies  about  in  the  air.  I  have  listened  to  prophets, 
Elisha,  when  the  air  about  them  was  so  thick  with  chaff 
you  could  hardly  see  your  hand  before  you.  Their  hearers 
could  not  see  the  wheat  for  the  chaff.  They  could  not  get 
heads  or  tails  of  the  prophet's  message.  They  only  heard 
a  great  noise  of  threshing,  and  went  away  with  their  eyes 
full  of  dust.  Men  do  not  come  out  to  hear  a  reed  shaken 
by  the  wind,  or  to  see  a  man  clothed  in  soft  raiment.  They 
go  to  the  woods  to  hear  the  one,  and  to  kings'  houses  to 
see  the  other.  They  come  out  to  hear  a  human  soul 
vibrating  with  the  spirit  of  God.  What  they  want  is  not 
an  intellectual  performance,  or  an  oratorical  display,  but  a 
living  message.    They  do  not  care  so  much  how  you  came 


126  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

by  it  as  that  you  have  it,  and  that  you  are  sure  it  is  from 
God.  Don't  let  your  people  see  the  tools  of  your  trade,  or 
hear  the  noise  of  your  digging.  Leave  all  that  behind  you 
in  your  closet.  Go  to  the  morning-glory,  Elisha,  consider 
its  ways  and  be  v^ise.  It  blooms  under  cover  of  darkness, 
and  has  the  flower  ready  against  the  dawn.  Study  with 
your  Father  who  is  in  secret,  and  he  will  reward  you 
openly  before  your  people. 


Ill 

Don't  preach  your  doubts,  Elisha.  The  world  has 
enough  of  its  own.  There  will  be  times  when  you  will 
not  have  much  else  to  preach,  and  you  will  feel  called  upon 
to  preach  something.  Prophets  are  expected  to  talk, 
whether  they  have  anything  to  say  or  not.  You  will  be 
tempted  to  speak  when  you  have  no  message,  but  don't  do 
it,  Elisha.  Better  silence  in  your  pulpit  than  an  uncertain 
sound.  Any  fool  can  talk,  but  it  takes  a  wise  man  to 
know  when  to  keep  still.  Wait  until  the  voice  has  come. 
"Who  hath  spoken  when  I  have  not  spoken?"  saith  the 
Lord.  Let  God  speak  first.  And  He  will,  if  you  give 
Him  time.  You  will  have  your  doubts,  if  you  think  for 
yourself  upon  the  great  mysteries  of  life,  but  keep  them 
to  yourself.  Doubt  does  not  get  us  anywhere.  It  is  faith 
that  saves,  and  removes  mountains,  and  stops  the  mouth 
of  lions,  and  quenches  the  violence  of  fire.  Don't  speak 
prematurely.  Wait  until  you  have  arrived  at  a  belief. 
Preach  what  you  know,  if  it  can  be  known;  what  you  be- 
lieve, if  it  cannot  be  known.  This  age  of  doubt  is  dying 
for  a  little  bit  of  faith,  as  well  as  for  a  little  bit  of  love. 
It  does  not  resent  authority,  if  it  is  the  right  kind.  It 
knows  the  voice  of  God  when  it  hears  it. 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  127 

IV 

Don't  take  away  any  man's  faith  until  you  have  a  bet- 
ter one  to  give  him  in  return.  A  poor  faith  is  better  than 
none  at  all.  We  can  no  more  live  without  faith  than  we 
can  live  without  air.  It  is  the  very  breath  of  our  nostrils. 
A  man  must  have  something  to  believe  in.  If  you  take 
away  his  God,  he  will  believe  in  spooks.  He  will  catch 
at  the  first  straw  that  comes  along.  A  man  will  eat  most 
anything  before  he  will  starve.  Nature  abhors  a  vacuum, 
whether  in  a  man's  stomach  or  in  his  head.  Remember 
the  man  who  swept  and  garnished  his  house,  and  then 
left  it  empty.  The  last  state  of  that  man  was  worse  than 
the  first. 


Don't  disturb  the  faith  of  old  folks,  Elisha,  whether 
dead  or  alive.  It  is  unfair,  if  they  are  dead.  They  are 
not  here  to  speak  for  themselves.  It  is  unkind,  if  they  are 
living.  They  are  here  to  hear,  and  it  will  give  them  pain. 
Respect  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  the  feelings  of  the 
living.  Things  have  come  to  a  sorry  pass  when  a  young 
prophet  can  find  nothing  better  to  do  than  throw  stones 
at  his  ancestors.  There  are  too  many  grievous  wrongs 
to  be  righted  for  that,  too  many  crying  evils  to  be  done 
from  the  earth.  Have  respect  for  gray  hairs,  Elisha, 
whether  on  the  heads  of  old  folks  or  inside  of  them. 
Don't  bring  them  down  to  the  grave  in  sorrow  and  con- 
fusion. They  are  comfortable  in  their  old  houses,  as 
thoroughly  at  home  in  them  as  you  are  in  your  new  one. 
They  were  born  and  raised  in  them.  Don't  pull  them 
down  over  their  heads,  and  turn  them  out  to  die.    There 


128  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

is  nothing  sadder  than  to  be  turned  out  of  doors  in  your 
old  age.  Old  folks  do  not  take  kindly  to  change,  whether 
from  one  house  to  another  or  from  one  faith  to  another. 
They  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  inclination  to  change. 
It  takes  time  to  reform  our  faith,  and  readjust  our  lives 
to  it,  and  they  have  not  many  years  left.  Leave  them 
alone  in  their  old  houses.  They  have  v^eathered  the 
storms  of  many  years  in  them,  and  they  can  manage  to 
make  out  for  the  rest  of  their  lives.  A  faith  that  is  good 
enough  to  live  by  will  do  to  die  by.  Life  is  harder  than 
death,  and  calls  for  a  stronger  faith.  Anybody  can  die, 
but  it  takes  a  brave  man  to  live,  when  life  is  hard  and 
all  the  odds  are  against  him.  Beware  how  you  judge  your 
elders,  Elisha,  and  pass  sentence  upon  their  beliefs.  It 
may  be  that  they  are  right,  after  all,  and  you  are  wrong. 
Who  knows  ?  They  have  at  least  tried  their  faith  longer 
than  you  have  yours,  and  the  final  test  of  all  faith  is  life, 
and  the  final  fruit  of  it  is  character.  Have  you  as  much 
to  show  for  your  faith  as  they  have  for  theirs?  Wait 
until  you  have  tried  it  out  upon  as  many  of  the  vicissitudes 
of  life,  wait  until  you  have  weathered  as  many  storms  and 
looked  into  the  faces  of  as  many  of  your  dead,  before  you 
say  that  your  faith  is  superior  to  theirs. 

VI 

Don't  tear  down,  Elisha.  Build  up.  The  work  of 
destruction  has  been  done,  and  overdone.  The  old  order 
is  in  ruins  all  about  us.  There  is  hardly  left  one  stone 
upon  another  that  has  not  been  pulled  down.  It  is  high 
time  new  buildings  were  rising  upon  the  ruins  of  the  old. 
The  times  cry  aloud  for  construction.  It  is  one  thing  to 
criticise  the  established  order,  it  is  quite  a  different  thing 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  129 

to  roll  up  your  sleeves  and  improve  upon  it.  The  best  cure 
for  criticism  is  hard  work.  The  Gospel  is  not  critical,  but 
kindly  in  spirit.  It  is  not  destructive,  but  constructive. 
Jesus  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.  The  Baptist  laid 
the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  the  Master  cast  the  seed  into 
the  soil.  One  cleared  the  ground  for  the  other.  John  was 
the  last  of  the  old  school,  Jesus  the  first  of  the  new. 
Don't  forget  which  master  you  serve,  Elisha.  Paul  found 
some  of  John's  disciples  at  Ephesus,  who  did  not  know 
that  their  master  was  dead :  and  you  will  still  find  them 
here  and  there,  Elisha,  laying  about  them  with  the  axe. 
They  do  not  know  that  the  war  is  over.  The  best  way 
to  combat  error  is  to  proclaim  the  truth,  and  the  best  way 
to  condemn  sin  is  to  preach  righteousness.  Paul  said 
not  a  word  to  Felix  about  his  sins.  Perhaps  he  did  not 
know  them.  He  preached  righteousness,  and  temperance, 
and  judgment  to  come;  and  the  king  trembled.  Felix 
knew,  and  God  knew.  Overcome  evil  with  good,  Elisha, 
and  error  with  truth.  The  only  cure  for  darkness  is  light. 
It  is  nothing  but  the  absence  of  light.  You  cannot  drive 
it  out  with  a  broom.  You  will  only  break  up  the  furniture 
in  the  dark.  Don't  beat  the  air  with  your  fists,  Elisha. 
Turn  on  the  light.  Men  may  love  darkness  rather  than 
light  because  their  deeds  are  evil,  but  you  cannot  help 
that.  It  is  your  business  to  see  that  they  have  the  light, 
whether  they  like  it  or  not. 

You  are  a  servant  of  the  Gospel,  Elisha,  and  the  fun- 
damental process  of  the  Christian  life  is  not  repression, 
but  expression.  Not  that  we  can  give  free  rein  to  every- 
thing there  is  in  us,  on  the  assumption  that  it  is  good 
because  it  is  there.  Far  from  it.  Solomon  tried  that, 
and  was  led  astray.  Whatsoever  his  eyes  desired  he  kept 
not  from  them,  he  withheld  not  his  heart  from  any  joy; 


130  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

and  the  end  of  it  was  vanity,  and  bitterness  of  spirit. 
There  are  some  things  within  us  which  must  be  denied, 
even  crucified;  and  yet,  after  all,  the  main  business  of  life 
is  to  put  forth  what  God  puts  within. 

VII 

Don*t  knock  the  other  fellow's  opinions,  Elisha. 
Preach  your  own.  Don't  go  about  with  a  chip  on  your 
shoulder  looking  for  trouble.  You  will  find  enough  with- 
out looking  for  it.  Train  your  guns  on  the  enemy,  and 
not  on  your  friends.  Seekers  after  truth  should  present 
an  undivided  front  to  falsehood.  Don't  be  an  Ishmaelite, 
your  hand  against  every  man  and  every  man's  hand 
against  you.  The  war  of  words  is  over.  Strike  hands 
with  your  fellows.  We  are  different  members  of  the  same 
body.  Each  member  has  its  own  particular  place  to  fill, 
and  its  own  peculiar  function  to  perform.  They  are  mu- 
tually dependent  upon  each  other.  The  eye  cannot  say 
to  the  hand,  I  have  no  need  of  thee;  nor  again  the  head 
to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of  thee.  How  would  the  head 
get  anywhere  without  the  feet,  or  how  could  the  hand  do 
anything  without  the  eye  to  direct  it  ?  We  are  all  members 
one  of  another;  and  whether  one  member  suffer,  all  the 
members  suffer  with  it,  or  one  member  be  honoured,  all 
the  members  rejoice  with  it. 

Grant  to  the  other  fellow  the  same  rights  that  you  claim 
for  yourself.  It  is  a  poor  right  that  will  not  work  both 
ways.  He  has  just  as  much  right  to  his  opinion  as  you 
have  to  yours.  He  came  by  it  just  as  honestly,  and  holds 
it  just  as  sincerely.  And  he  is  just  as  liable  to  be  right  in 
his  opinion  as  you  are  in  yours.  You  think  you  are  right, 
and  he  thinks  he  is  right.    Who  is  to  judge  between  you? 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  131 

It  must  be  someone  who  is  over  you  both,  and  there  is  but 
One.  Who  art  thou  that  judgeth  another  man's  servant? 
To  his  own  master  he  standeth  or  falleth.  After  all,  there 
may  not  be  as  much  difference  between  you  and  the  other 
fellow  as  you  think.  It  may  be  only  a  difference  in  point 
of  view.  You  and  he  may  see  but  different  sides  of  the 
same  truth.  God  does  not  give  all  the  truth  to  one  man. 
He  gives  different  parts  to  different  men,  with  the  inten- 
tion that  they  all  get  together  and  piece  out  the  whole 
truth.  It  is  the  getting  together  that  is  so  difficult.  It 
requires  mutual  concessions  and  compromises.  Be  willing 
to  bring  your  little  mite,  Elisha,  and  put  it  alongside  of  the 
fruits  of  others'  labours,  and  so  make  up  God's  great  sum. 

VIII 

Don't  quarrel  with  your  neighbour  across  the  way  over 
the  husks  of  truth.  And  most  of  the  great  historic  quar- 
rels have  been  over  husks.  Most  men  agree  when  it 
comes  to  the  kernel,  and  it  is  the  kernel  that  counts.  The 
husk  was  made  for  the  kernel,  not  the  kernel  for  the  husk. 
It  is  not  the  earthen  vessel  that  is  important,  but  the  heav- 
enly treasure  which  it  contains.  How  men  have  fallen  out 
over  the  earthen  vessels,  one  insisting  that  they  were  clay, 
another  that  they  were  stone,  to  the  utter  neglect  of  the 
heavenly  treasure.  In  many  cases,  the  controversy  has 
ended  in  the  breaking  of  the  earthen  vessels,  and  the  con- 
sequent loss  of  the  heavenly  treasure.  The  husk  is  al- 
ways on  the  outside,  the  kernel  within.  "Not  first  that 
which  is  spiritual,  but  that  which  is  natural;  and  after- 
ward that  which  is  spiritual."  That  is  the  order  of  na- 
ture, and  the  order  of  nature  is  the  order  of  God.  Per- 
haps that  is  the  reason  there  is  so  much  ado  over  the 


132  THE  IVIANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

husks.  They  are  so  much  more  apparent  to  the  naked  eye. 
We  come  to  the  husk  first;  and  too  many  of  us,  I  fear, 
never  get  any  further.  We  feed  our  people  on  husks,  and 
then  wonder  that  they  starve  to  death. 

Let  the  Book  speak  for  itself,  Elisha.  And  it  will  if 
you  give  it  a  chance.  Prophets  meddle  with  it  much  more 
than  is  necessary.  It  is  a  plain  man's  book.  It  is  in  his 
language,  and  level  with  his  life.  It  was  written  for  the 
most  part  by  common  men  for  common  men,  to  set  forth 
the  common  duties  of  life;  and  common  men  can  under- 
stand it,  when  they  are  let  alone.  It  is  mostly  when  theo- 
logians attempt  to  explain  it  that  they  become  confused. 
It  was  not  written  to  explain  how  the  world  was  made,  or 
how  our  bodies  are  put  together.  We  can  find  out  those 
things,  and  hundreds  of  others  like  them,  for  ourselves; 
or  if  we  never  find  them  out,  we  are  none  the  worse 
morally.  But  who  by  searching  can  find  out  God  ?  That 
is  the  supreme  question,  and  the  Book  contains  the  final 
answer  to  it.  Suppose  Moses  did  believe  that  the  earth 
was  made  in  six  days,  as  a  man  would  build  a  house? 
What  of  it?  The  earth  is  here,  solid  and  substantial 
under  our  feet.  The  Bible  puts  God  at  the  beginning  of 
it,  and  all  the  king's  horses  and  all  the  king's  men  have 
not  been  able  to  take  Him  away.  The  process  of  creation 
is  secondary,  and  that  is  what  all  this  modern  fuss  is 
about.  What  if  David  did  believe  that  the  seat  of  life  is 
in  the  liver?  Do  we  yet  know  where  it  is,  or  that  life  has 
any  seat?  It  evidently  has  a  source,  and  a  high  one,  judg- 
ing from  the  driving  power  of  it ;  but  whether  it  has  any 
seat,  either  within  or  without  us,  is  another  question.  It 
seems  to  be  on  the  go  most  of  the  time,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  and  it  is  about  all  we  can  do  to  keep  up  with  it.  It 
leads  us  such  a  merry  chase  over  land  and  sea,  and  we  are 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  13S 

so  out  of  breath  with  the  running  when  it  pauses  for  a 
few  moments,  we  have  no  time  nor  indination  to  look 
about  us  and  see  where  it  stops  with  us.  We  are  too 
glad  to  rest  and  recover  our  breath  for  the  next  heat,  and 
by  the  time  our  breath  has  caught  up  with  us  it  is  off 
again.  It  is  hard  to  corner  such  a  will-o'-the-wisp  as  that. 
It  is  our  business  to  keep  it  headed  in  the  right  direction, 
and  upon  that  the  Book  leaves  no  doubt.  It  is  not  so 
anxious  to  discover  whence  we  came  as  to  determine  where 
we  are  going.  It  sheds  a  bright  light  upon  the  parting  of 
the  ways,  and  it  is  not  indifferent  as  to  which  way  we  take. 
"Choose  life,  choose  life,"  it  shouts  in  trumpet  tones  all 
the  way  from  Sinai  to  Calvary.  It  does  not  matter  so 
much  what  kind  of  a  trumpet  it  uses,  whether  a  silver  flute 
or  a  ram's  horn,  so  it  gives  forth  no  uncertain  sound.  It 
employs  many  figures  of  speech,  metaphor,  and  simile, 
and  parable,  and  allegory,  and  apocalypse;  but  it  speaks 
but  one  message. 

He  is  a  blind  prophet  who  cannot  see  that  the  Bible  is 
a  text-book  of  life,  and  not  a  scientific  or  philosophical 
treatise.  It  recognises  sin,  and  points  to  the  remedy  for 
it;  but  it  throws  no  light  on  the  origin  of  evil.  We  are  in 
the  presence  of  God  from  beginning  to  end,  but  we  never 
once  see  through  the  mystery  of  His  person.  Man  is  next 
to  God  under  the  sun,  and  the  emphasis  is  everywhere 
placed  on  the  spiritual  side  of  Him ;  but  there  is  not  a  word 
as  to  the  mysterious  relation  between  His  soul  and  body, 
or  how  one  can  survive  the  other.  From  first  to  last,  the 
Book  is  intent  upon  telling  us  how  to  live,  and  not  how  we 
came  to  be  alive.  That  is  the  open  secret  of  the  long  nar- 
rative. Every  story  has  a  moral ;  not  tacked  on  at  the  end 
of  it,  after  the  manner  of  ^sop,  but  woven  into  the  very 
fibre  of  it,  after  the  manner  of  Jesus.    We  are  not  told 


134  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

whether  the  story  is  fact  or  fiction,  romantic  history  oi 
historical  romance.  The  author  does  not  seem  to  think  it 
worth  while,  if  he  stops  to  think  about  it.  He  is  too  eager 
to  point  the  moral  of  it.  He  goes  straight  to  that  like  a 
bullet  to  its  mark.  He  wastes  no  time  upon  the  earthen 
vessel.  It  is  surpassingly  beautiful  in  many  instances,  but 
it  is  very  largely  unconscious.  It  is  not  studied.  It  springs 
up  spontaneously  In  the  author's  soul ;  a  natural  product, 
rather  than  a  work  of  art.  The  Hebrews  knew  nothing  of 
"art  for  art's  sake,"  but  only  art  for  God's  sake. 

Take  the  Jonah  story,  for  instance,  which  has  been  such 
a  bone  of  contention  in  the  schools.  Is  it  history  or  satire, 
fact  or  fiction?  Shall  we  place  it  alongside  of  the  con- 
quest of  Canaan,  or  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son? 
That  is  the  question  which  has  set  the  theologians  by  the 
ears,  but  who  shall  say  that  it  was  uppermost  in  the  mind 
of  the  author?  It  misses  the  mark  of  the  story.  The  tale 
was  not  told  to  show  how  big  a  whale's  belly  is,  or  how 
long  a  man  can  remain  in  it  and  live,  but  to  show  how  big 
God's  heart  is,  and  how  far  he  will  go  to  forgive.  If  we 
get  that,  it  does  not  matter  so  very  much  what  we  think 
of  the  fish  story;  and  if  we  miss  that,  we  have  read  the 
story  in  vain.  Who  ever  stops  to  ask  whether  the  parables 
of  Jesus  are  true  as  to  fact  ?  He  who  does  misses  the  real 
point  of  them.  Why  should  we  be  such  sticklers  for  fact, 
after  all,  or  such  enemies  of  fiction,  as  if  it  were  the  anti- 
thesis of  truth?  The  real  contrast  is  not  between  truth 
and  fiction,  but  between  truth  and  error.  Fiction  may 
convey  truth,  no  less  than  fact.  A  great  many  facts  are 
false  to  life,  and  a  great  deal  of  fiction  is  true  to  it.  We 
have  paid  altogether  too  much  attention  to  the  vehicle  of 
truth,  and  too  little  to  the  truth  itself.    It  does  not  matter 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  135 

so  much  how  the  truth  gets  to  us,  whether  by  fact  or  by 
iiction,  so  it  reaches  us,  and  so  we  beUeve. 


IX 

Don't  preach  either  lower  or  higher  criticism,  Elisha. 
For  God's  sake,  and  your  own  soul's  sake,  don't.  Not 
that  the  Bible  will  not  bear  investigation,  and  that  of  the 
most  painstaking  sort,  or  that  it  should  be  exempted  from 
it.  Other  literature  has  been  subjected  to  criticism,  and 
there  is  no  reason  why  this  Book  should  not.  Our  efforts 
to  shield  it  only  cast  suspicion  upon  it.  Whenever  the 
champions  of  any  book  or  any  theory  have  to  run  to  its 
rescue  every  time  somebody  points  his  finger  at  it,  it  is 
time  a  committee  of  investigation  were  appointed.  The 
chances  are  that  you  will  discover  sand  in  its  foundation. 
Let  men  train  their  microscopes  upon  it.  It  will  bear  the 
white  light  of  investigation.  If  it  will  not,  we  cannot  know 
it  too  soon.  But  it  will ;  and  it  has.  It  has  stood  the  acid 
test  of  time  and  tide.  It  has  been  sifted  through  thou- 
sands of  years,  and  all  the  tides  which  come  and  go  in  the 
affairs  of  men  have  passed  over  it.  No  book  has  been  so 
tried  in  the  crucible  of  criticism,  and  it  has  come  forth  as 
gold  out  of  the  fire. 

Nor  is  it  that  honest  criticism  of  the  Book  is  irreverent, 
or  actuated  by  unworthy  motives.  It  is  not  strange  that 
men  seek  to  know  how  the  world  came  by  this  Book ;  what 
hands  wrought  upon  it,  and  how  they  wrought.  It  would 
be  strange  if  they  did  not.  We  are  naturally  interested  in 
any  great  monumental  work  that  has  been  done  under  the 
sun,  and  we  do  well  to  be.  Who  would  not  like  to  know 
how  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  went  up,  or  what  master  hand 
fashioned  the  countenance  of  the  Sphinx?    And  so  with 


136  THE  ]\L\NTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

this  wonderful  Book.  Who  would  not  like  to  know  how  it 
came  from  God  through  man ;  how  it  was  wrought  out  in 
the  consciousness  of  the  Hebrew  race;  whether  by  ordi- 
nary methods  of  inspiration,  or  by  extraordinary  meth- 
ods ?  And  the  great  souls  who  wrought  here,  so  mightily 
with  God  and  man.  What  would  we  not  give  to  know 
more  about  them?  We  are  sure  that  they  would  be  well 
worth  knowing.  They  were  no  mean  souls.  These  are 
not  the  footprints  of  pygmies  we  are  following.  They  are 
too  large,  and  the  distance  is  too  great  between  them. 
What  great  strides  they  took  toward  God,  and  with  what 
difficulty  do  we  follow  them.  There  were  giants  in  the 
earth  in  those  days.  They  reveal  gigantic  proportions  in 
every  line  and  lineament  of  their  souls.  And  what  adven- 
tures they  had  with  God,  what  chances  they  took  with 
men.  These  great  truths  were  not  dreamed  out  in  the 
cloister,  or  sptm  out  in  the  schools.  They  were  struck 
out  of  human  souls  at  white  heat.  We  can  feel  the 
warmth  of  them  on  our  faces  even  at  this  distance  of  time 
and  space.  They  travelled  to  the  far  edge  of  the  desert, 
and  climbed  to  the  top  of  high  mountains,  to  look  into  the 
face  of  God.  They  saw  Him  face  to  face,  and  talked  with 
Him  as  a  man  talks  with  his  friend.  These  pictures  of  the 
Eternal  were  taken  at  close  range.  They  must  have  seen 
much,  and  suffered  much,  and  taken  many  "long  and  lonely 
journeys  in  the  spirit,  with  no  one  but  God  for  company. 
But  whether  they  were  men  or  women,  whether  they  were 
born  in  this  place  or  that,  whether  they  were  dark  or  fair, 
we  may  not  know.  We  hear  the  beating  of  their  great 
hearts,  but  we  cannot  see  the  fashion  of  their  countenance. 
Time  has  taken  its  toll  of  them.  They  have  gone  the  way 
of  all  the  earth,  and  many  of  their  names  are  forgotten; 
but  their  burning  words  are  ringing  throughout  the  world, 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  137 

and  will  ring  to  the  end  of  time.  We  are  sorry  that  the 
story  of  their  lives  has  been  lost,  we  are  glad  that  the 
record  of  their  souls  has  been  preserved. 

It  is  not  because  biblical  criticism  is  irreverent  in  the 
prophet's  mouth,  but  simply  because  it  is  irrelevant  to  his 
purpose.  It  may  be  all  right  in  the  schools,  but  it  is  out 
of  place  in  the  pulpit.  It  is  beside  the  mark.  Most  of 
the  higher  criticism  goes  over  men's  heads,  and  most  of 
the  lower  strikes  beneath  their  feet.  Neither  strikes  men 
where  they  live,  and  that  is  the  prophet's  aim.  Drive 
straight  at  the  hearts  of  men,  Elisha.  Out  of  it  are  the 
issues  of  life,  and  it  is  with  the  ultimate  issues  of  life  that 
you  have  to  do.  Your  business  is  with  the  souls  of  men, 
and  you  should  know  where  to  find  them.  You  will  find 
the  master  of  the  house  at  home,  if  you  seek  him  in  the 
right  place.  Folks  don't  live  in  the  upper  story  of  their 
houses.  They  may  try  to  make  you  think  they  do,  but 
they  don't.  They  only  sleep  there.  Perhaps  that  is  why 
they  go  to  sleep  under  so  much  of  our  preaching.  It  is 
not  the  date  or  the  author  of  a  book  that  the  world  needs, 
but  its  burning  message.  Don't  waste  any  tirhe  over  the 
authorship  of  the  Pentateuch.  Lay  the  Ten  Words  on  the 
consciences  of  your  hearers.  It  is  immaterial  to  your 
business  whether  there  were  two  Isaiahs  or  one.  The 
fifty-third  chapter  of  the  book  remains  the  same,  whether 
it  was  written  by  the  first  Isaiah  or  the  second.  What 
matter  whether  David  wrote  all  the  Psalms  which  bear 
his  name  or  not  ?  How  many  of  us  ever  stop  to  read  the 
titles?  We  know  that  the  Twenty-third  must  have  been 
written  by  someone  who  had  kept  sheep,  and  the  Eighth 
by  someone  who  had  looked  long  at  the  stars.  I  charge 
you,  Elisha,  before  God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
shall  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead  at  His  appearing  and 


138  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

His  kingdom ;  preach  the  Word,  and  not  what  somebody 
has  said  about  it. 


Don't  try  to  answer  unanswerable  questions,  Elisha. 
Your  people  will  sidetrack  you  if  they  can.  They  will 
want  to  know  who  Cain's  wife  was,  and  where  the  Garden 
of  Eden  was  located.  They  will  ask  all  sorts  of  fool  ques- 
tions to  keep  you  off  the  main  question.  It  is  so  much 
easier  to  speculate  about  Cain's  wife  than  it  is  to  provide 
for  your  own  wife,  Elisha.  Don't  encourage  your  people 
in  idle  curiosity,  when  their  souls  are  starving  for  the 
bread  of  life.  It  is  not  so  important  that  they  know  where 
the  Garden  of  Eden  once  was  as  that  they  know  where  it 
'is  now.  It  is  wherever  man  is,  and  woman;  wherever 
rivers  run,  and  birds  sing,  and  God  walks  in  the  cool  of 
the  day.  And  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
still  grows  in  the  midst  of  it,  where  we  must  pass  it  every 
iday  on  our  way  to  our  work ;  and  the  serpent  is  still  there 
lamong  the  branches,  telling  the  same  old  lie  with  which  he 
deceived  the  first  man  and  woman. 

There  are  some  prophets  who  set  themselves  up  to  an- 
swer all  questions,  from.  Who  was  Cain's  wife?  to,  When 
will  the  world  come  to  an  end?  They  presume  to  know 
more  than  their  Master.  Be  not  one  of  them,  Elisha. 
Don't  be  ashamed  to  confess  your  ignorance  before  men. 
,Your  Master  was  not.  If  He  could  afford  to  do  it,  you  can. 
He  did  not  know  the  day  or  the  hour  of  His  second  com- 
ing, and  He  said  so  frankly;  and  the  world  thinks  none 
the  less  of  Him  for  it.  You  don't  know  it  all,  Elisha.  You 
may  think  you  do,  but  you  don't.  You  have  much  to 
learn  yet,  and  will  have  when  you  have  lived  to  be  as  old  as 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  139 

I  am.  Men  will  go  on  learning  long  after  you  are  dead 
and  gone.  But  ignorance  is  no  disgrace,  so  long  as  you 
are  not  ashamed  of  it.  The  wisest  of  men  have  been  fool- 
ish about  some  things.  There  were  some  things  which 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  did  not  know.  He  did  not 
know  very  much  about  women,  or  he  would  never  have 
tried  to  live  in  the  same  house  with  a  thousand  of  them. 
When  that  many  wives  come  in  at  the  door,  the  dove  of 
peace  flies  out  at  the  window.  No  wonder  his  quest  for 
happiness  turned  out  to  be  a  "striving  after  wind.*'  When- 
ever you  are  tempted  to  envy  wise  men  their  superior  wis- 
dom, Elisha,  just  think  of  King  Solomon  with  his  three 
hundred  wives,  to  say  nothing  of  his  seven  hundred  con- 
cubines. 

It  is  the  vices  of  our  virtues  which  most  often  trip  us 
up,  and  the  folly  of  our  wisdom  which  most  often  puts  us 
to  shame.  Moses  was  the  meekest  of  men,  and  yet  he 
shipwrecked  upon  the  rock  of  presumption.  Solomon 
was  the  wisest  man  who  ever  lived,  and  yet  he  finally 
played  the  fool  to  his  ruin.  So  beware  of  being  wise 
overmuch,  Elisha.  Don't  hanker  after  the  reputation  of 
knowing  it  all.  Remember  that  a  reputation  is  as  hard  to 
live  up  to  as  it  is  to  live  down.  By  all  means,  don't  pre- 
tend to  know  what  you  don't  know.  Your  pretence  will  be 
sure  to  find  you  out.  Better  own  up,  and  have  done  with  it. 
The  world  has  more  respect  for  honest  ignorance  than  it 
has  for  a  pretence  of  knowledge.  If  you  try  to  know 
everything,  the  world  will  have  its  doubts  about  your 
knowing  anything.  We  are  naturally  suspicious  of  a  cure- 
all.  A  jack-at-all-trades  is  master  of  none.  It  is  better 
to  be  thorough  than  broad,  if  we  cannot  be  both;  better  to 
know  one  thing  well  than  many  things  not  so  well.    If  we 


140  THE  ]\IANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

know  God  well,  we  will  not  have  time  to  go  to  the  bottom 
of  anything  else. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  prophets  aspire  to  know  too  much. 
They  are  afraid  to  be  caught  in  ignorance  of  anything. 
They  must  have  some  sort  of  answer  for  every  question 
that  is  propounded  to  them.  A  little  more  honest  agnosti- 
cism among  theologians  and  a  little  less  of  it  among  scien- 
tists would  perhaps  be  better  for  both.  Scientists  are 
afraid  they  will  know  too  much,  theologians  that  they  will 
know  too  little.  There  are  extremes  both  ways.  It  is  just 
as  bad  to  refuse  to  know  what  can  be  known  as  it  is  to 
presume  to  know  what  cannot  be  known.  Be  honest  be- 
fore God  and  man,  Elisha,  and  frank  as  the  day.  Don't 
hesitate  to  look  your  people  straight  in  the  eye,  and  say, 
*T  don't  know,"  if  you  don't.  They  will  respect  you  for  it. 
Perhaps,  after  all,  they  will  love  you  more  for  your  igno- 
rance than  for  your  knowledge — ^and  they  will  have  so 
much  more  of  it  to  love  you  for.  You  can  never  tell. 
The  human  heart  is  so  strange  in  its  turnings.  We  do  not 
always  love  wisely,  according  to  the  wisdom  of  this  world. 
A  man  may  not  be  worth  his  salt,  and  yet  some  dog,  to 
say  nothing  of  some  woman,  will  follow  him  to  the  world's 
end.  I  have  met  a  good  many  men  in  my  time,  Elisha,  in 
school  and  out,  and  it  has  been  my  observation  that  an 
honest  fool  stands  a  better  chance  in  this  world  than  a 
foolish  wise  man ;  and  we  have  to  go  through  this  world 
to  get  to  the  next  one.  Remember  that,  Elisha.  So  many 
prophets  seem  to  forget  that  the  next  world  is  next.  They 
try  to  live  in  it  before  they  get  to  it.  It  is  better  to  take 
one  world  at  a  time.  We  will  fare  better  in  both.  It 
takes  a  wise  man  to  live  in  two  worlds  at  one  and  the  same 
time. 


DONETS  FOR  PROPHETS  141 

XI 

Don't  try  to  explain  things  that  cannot  be  explained, 
Elisha,  and  there  are  so  many  things  that  can't.  Most  of 
our  explanations  are  only  names  to  hide  our  ignorance. 
We  go  about  naming  things,  like  Adam  naming  the  ani- 
mals in  Eden,  and  then  congratulate  ourselves  that  we  have 
explained  it  all.  But  we  haven't,  Elisha.  We  have  only 
labeled  them;  and  most  of  our  labels  are  so  thin  you 
can  see  through  them,  or  could  if  there  were  not  sudii 
dark  mysteries  behind  them. 

Did  you  ever  think  how  many  things  Jesus  left  tmex- 
plained,  Elisha?  All  the  old  riddles  that  men  have  racked 
their  brains  over  since  the  world  began.  He  did  not  touch 
upon  any  of  them.  He  let  them  strictly  alone.  He  was 
too  busy  with  the  simple  duties  of  life.  His  disciples  were 
curious  about  many  things,  and  plied  Him  with  questions, 
but  they  got  little  satisfaction  out  of  Him.  Either  the 
thing  could  not  be  explained,  or  they  could  not  under- 
stand it.  He  made  not  attempt  to  explain  Himself ;  how 
He  came,  or  how  He  went.  Others  have  tried  to  explain 
Him,  but  He  gave  no  explanation.  Who  are  we  that  we 
should  presume  to  explain  things  which  He  has  not  ex- 
plained ?  How  much  precious  time,  and  how  much  good 
gray  matter,  has  been  wasted  upon  the  mystery  of  His 
coming  and  going;  and  yet  we  are  just  where  He  left  us 
when  He  went  away,  and  no  doubt  He  will  find  us  there 
when  He  comes  again.  JVas  He  born  of  Mary  and 
Joseph,  or  of  Mary  and  God,  or  of  Mary  and  Joseph  and 
God  ?  Who  knows,  but  Mary  and  Joseph  and  God  ?  And 
they  have  told  no  tales.  He  came,  and  He  did  not  come ; 
He  was  here  before.  He  went,  and  He  did  not  go ;  He  is 
here  yet.     Whether  God  became  man,  or  man  became 


142  THE  IVIANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

God,  they  were  one  in  Him.  And  with  what  body  did  He 
come  back  from  the  dead?  It  was  the  same,  and  yet  not 
the  same;  so  evidently  tangible,  and  yet  so  mysteriously 
intangible.  Mary  mistook  Him  for  the  gardener,  and 
His  disciples  mistook  Him  for  a  ghost.  He  could  show 
His  hands  and  side  to  Thomas,  and  eat  before  His  dis- 
ciples, and  yet  disappear  through  a  closed  door!  What 
is  the  use  of  trying  to  use  our  poor  human  wits  upon  a 
thing  like  that,  Elisha  ?  We  might  as  well  go  out  and  beat 
our  heads  against  a  stone  wall.  The  mystery  of  Mary's 
womb  and  the  mystery  of  Joseph's  tomb  remain  until  this 
day,  and  will  remain  no  doubt  to  the  last  day.  Have  re- 
spect for  the  great  mysteries,  Elisha,  and  remember  that 
most  everything  is  a  great  mystery  at  bottom.  The  secret 
things  belong  to  God,  the  plain  duties  to  you  and  your 
people. 

XII 

Don't  try  to  prove  things  that  are  impossible  of  proof. 
It  is  a  waste  of  breath,  and  you  will  need  all  your  breath 
for  more  important  things.  Take  some  things  for  granted. 
Jesus  did.  He  took  God  for  granted,  and  sin,  and  the 
human  soul,  and  the  future  life.  He  made  no  attempt  to 
prove  any  of  them.  He  was  as  sure  of  God  as  he  was  of 
the  ground  under  His  feet.  He  no  more  thought  of  trying 
to  prove  the  one  than  the  other.  God  was  the  major 
premise  upon  which  all  His  thought  was  based.  It  under- 
lies His  Gospel  from  beginning  to  end  and  undergirds  His 
life.  If  men  would  not  take  God  for  granted.  He  left 
them  and  went  His  way.  There  was  nothing  He  could 
say  to  them.  He  would  not  argue.  Life  was  too  short, 
and  He  had  too  much  to  do.  When  the  Forerunner  fell 
into  doubt  and  sent  his  disciples  to  Him  with  the  question^ 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  143 

Art  thou  He  that  should  come,  or  shall  we  look  for 
another  ?  He  did  not  argue,  or  quote  from  the  Scriptures 
concerning  Himself.  He  simply  told  John's  disciples  to 
go  back  and  tell  their  master  what  they  had  seen  and 
heard ;  the  blind  were  receiving  their  sight,  the  lame  were 
walking,  the  deaf  were  hearing,  lepers  were  being  cleansed, 
the  dead  were  raised  up,  and  the  poor  had  the  Gospel 
preached  to  them.  The  good  work  was  still  going  on, 
though  John  could  not  see  it  from  his  prison.  He  did  not 
present  arguments,  He  presented  facts.  When  Thomas 
balked,  and  refused  to  believe  the  story  that  was  too  good 
to  be  true,  the  Master  did  not  argue  or  scold.  He  knew 
the  Doubter,  how  hardfy  he  believed,  and  what  a  stupen- 
dous story  he  was  called  upon  to  believe.  It  is  not  easy 
to  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  All  the  expe- 
riences of  our  life  are  against  it.  There  was  just  one 
thing  that  would  convince  Thomas.  Jesus  knew.  He 
did  not  offer  arguments,  he  offered  Himself.  Maybe  it 
was  impossible  to  rise  from  the  dead,  but  there  He  was 
before  Thomas'  eyes,  with  His  riven  side  and  His  pierced 
hands.  Thomas  had  seen  Him  dead,  and  he  now  saw  Him 
alive  again.  Facts  are  stubborn  things,  whether  born  of 
the  flesh  or  of  the  spirit,  and  even  a  chronic  doubter  can- 
not deny  them. 

Nothing  ever  comes  of  argument,  Elisha,  but  more 
argument.  It  is  a  game  two  can  play  at.  And  it  is  a  game 
that  can  never  be  won.  No  one  is  ever  convinced  by  ar- 
gument. We  are  only  confirmed  in  our  own  opinions. 
That  is  the  end  of  all  controversy.  Even  when  you  get 
the  best  of  the  argument,  you  have  not  won  your  op- 
ponent to  your  way  of  thinking.  A  man  convinced  against 
his  will  is  of  the  same  opinion  still.  Job's  mouth  was  full 
of  arguments,  but  he  could  not  convince  anybody  with 


144  THE  MANTLE  OP  ELIJAH 

them.  He  could  not  even  convince  himself.  He  could 
prove  that  God's  ways  were  not  equal,  and  yet  he  would 
not  believe  it  after  he  had  proved  it.  He  appealed  from 
it  to  his  own  heart,  which  held  fast  to  God  in  the  dark. 
Don't  worry,  Elisha,  when  you  cannot  prove  things  to 
your  satisfaction.  Religion  is  not  an  exact  science.  It  is 
an  adorable  experience.  Be  content  to  know  some  things 
which  you  cannot  prove,  and  to  believe  some  things  which 
you  cannot  understand. 

Don't  waste  any  time  on  the  man  who  insists  that  you 

put  God  under  the  microscope,  or  he  will  not  believe.    As 

well  might  the  mole  say.  If  you  want  me  to  believe  in  the 

blue  sky,  you  must  bring  it  within  my  ken.    God  is  not 

tested  in  a  glass  tube,  but  in  the  human  heart.    He  is  not 

proved  by  argument,  but  by  trial.     How  can  you  prove 

the  presence  of  the  blue  sky  above  him  to  the  man  who 

persists  in  keeping  his  eyes  shut,  or  the  presence  of  the 

air  all  about  him  to  the  man  who  refuses  to  open  his  lungs 

to  it  ?    The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  taken  by  logic.    It 

must  be  taken  by  faith,  or  not  at  all;  not  the  faith  to 

believe  it  is  there,  but  the  faith  to  go  and  see.    That  is  the 

way  men  have  discovered  the  facts  of  science,  and  thWt  is 

the  way  they  discover  the  fact  of  God.    The  method  is  the 

same  in  both  cases,  though  the  facts  are  different.     The 

unseen  world  cannot  be  proved,  nor  can  it  be  disproved.    It 

is  an  adventure  of  faith.    God  stands  at  the  gateway  of  it, 

saying,  Come  and  see.    To  the  man  who  will  not  make  the 

venture  He  remains  forever  unknown.    Don't  mistake  the 

underlying  cause  of  the  world's  doubt,  Elisha.     It  is  not 

occupation  with  this  present  world,  but  absence  from  the 

unseen.    A  man  may  be  at  home  in  the  body  and  present 

with  the  Lord  at  one  and  the  same  time.    The  only  trouble 

with  Thomas  is  that  he  was  not  there,  when  it  all  hap- 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  145 

pened ;  and  the  only  cure  for  his  doubt  is  to  get  him  there, 
where  it  is  happening.  If  men  really  want  to  know 
whether  any  good  thing  can  come  out  of  Nazareth,  they 
must  come  and  see.  It  will  do  no  good  to  argue,  or 
threaten,  or  scold.  Tell  men  the  truth,  Elisha,  and  dare 
them  to  believe  it;  hold  up  a  living  Christ  before  their 
eyes,  and  challenge  them  to  try  Him. 

xin 

Don't  use  the  language  of  the  schools,  Elisha.  It  is  a 
dead  language,  and  men  like  to  hear  the  Gospel  in  their 
own  tongue.  It  is  that  which  is  handicapping  the  pulpit 
more  than  any  other  one  thing.  Not  the  gospel  that  is 
preached  there,  but  the  language  that  is  spoken  there.  It 
is  not  the  language  which  men  hear  through  the  week. 
The  prophet  speaks  to  them  almost  in  another  tongue. 
Paul  said  he  would  rather  speak  five  words  under  stand- 
ingly, in  a  language  that  his  hearers  could  comprehend, 
than  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue.  He 
thanked  God  that  he  spoke  with  tongues,  more  than  they 
all,  but  he  was  not  anxious  to  advertise  it  in  the  pulpit. 
He  was  not  there  to  display  his  learning,  but  to  instruct 
his  hearers.  Too  many  modem  prophets  are  burdened 
with  the  gift  of  tongues,  Elisha.  We  soon  forget  the 
Hebrew  and  Greek  we  learn  at  school,  and  it  is  a  great 
pity  we  don't  as  soon  forget  some  of  the  English  we  learn 
there.  The  Church  has  got  the  Gospel  out  of  Latin  into 
the  vernacular;  when  she  has  succeeded  in  getting  it  out 
of  the  vernacular  of  the  schools  into  the  vernacular  of  life, 
she  will  have  taken  the  final  step  toward  the  common 
people. 

Leave  the  language  of  the  schools  behind  you,  Elisha, 
when  you  leave  school.    It  is  all  right  in  the  schools,  but  it 


146  THE  ^L\NTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

is  out  of  place  in  the  pulpit.  !Men  don't  live  in  the  Acad- 
emy or  Porch.  They  live  on  the  street,  in  the  shop  and 
market-place,  where  words  are  few  and  language  takes  the 
shortest  distance  between  two  points.  They  speak  straight 
from  the  shoulder  there,  and  call  things  by  their  right 
names.  And  you  speak  the  same  language  when  you  go 
there,  Elisha.  You  don't  talk  to  your  people  in  your 
theological  jargon  when  you  meet  them  during  the  week. 
Then  why  take  it  into  the  pulpit  with  you  on  Sunday? 
They  are  the  same  people  you  have  met  between  Sundays, 
and  you  are  the  same  man.  Too  many  prophets  put  on 
their  Sunday  speech  with  their  Sunday  clothes,  as  some 
folks  put  on  their  religion.  It  is  a  great  mistake  in  both 
cases,  and  has  done  the  cause  of  religion  much  harm. 
Don't  use  the  language  you  heard  in  the  schools,  Elisha. 
Use  the  language  you  hear  on  the  street.  Not  the  slang, 
but  the  good  Anglo-Saxon.  Then  the  man  on  the  street 
can  tell  what  you  are  driving  at,  and  he  will  come  to  hear 
you.  He  can't  get  heads  or  tails  of  your  school  talk.  That 
is  one  reason  he  has  left  off  going  to  the  house  of  God. 
Don't  misunderstand  him.  He  does  not  object  to  the 
truth.  He  expects  to  hear  it  from  the  prophet's  lips,  and 
is  disappointed  when  he  does  not.  He  only  wants  to  hear 
it  in  a  language  he  can  understand. 

Don't  use  the  language  of  the  theological  schools.  Men 
of  the  new  school  are  tired  of  it.  And  don't  use  the  lan- 
guage of  the  scientific  schools.  Men  of  the  old  school  are 
afraid  of  it.  And  you  have  to  speak  to  both  schools. 
That  is  what  makes  the  prophet's  task  so  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult. He  has  to  speak  to  all  shades  and  shadows  of  opin- 
ion, to  all  degrees  and  differences  of  culture.  The  world 
is  divided  up  into  sections,  and  schools  of  thought;  and 
each  section  has  its  own  dialect,  and  each  school  its  own 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  147 

peculiar  speech.  If  he  uses  the  dialect  of  one  section,  or 
the  language  of  one  school,  the  other  will  be  oftendecL 
There  is  only  one  way  to  avoid  giving  offence,  to  keep 
from  arousing  prejudice  against  your  message  in  the 
minds  of  a  part  of  your  audience,  and  that  is  to  get  away 
from  all  schools  to  the  universal  speech  of  men.  We  are 
all  upon  a  common  footing  there.  It  is  understood  ever\-- 
where,  by  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  Schoolmen  can 
understand  the  language  of  common  life,  but  common  peo- 
ple cannot  understand  the  language  of  the  schools.  Re- 
member that  scholars  were  common  men  once,  and  are 
common  men  yet  at  heart.  Scratch  any  of  them  and  you 
will  find  our  common  human  heart  beating  under  the 
academic  crust  to  our  common  human  passions.  And  it  is 
to  that  heart,  common  to  all  men,  that  your  message  is 
directed. 

Avoid  technical  terms,  Elisha.  They  are  imsuited  to 
popular  speech.  They  are  open  to  misunderstanding. 
Tliey  either  have  no  meaning  at  all  to  the  ordinary'  man,  or 
they  convey  partial  or  pen-erted  meanings.  He  remains 
unmoved  by  them,  or  he  is  set  off  in  the  wrong  direction, 
after  some  imagined  foe  which  the  word  has  suggested  to 
him,  and  you  have  lost  him  for  the  remainder  of  your 
message.  Between  two  words  which  have  practically  the 
same  meaning,  always  choose  the  popular  and  familiar 
term.  If  you  have  occasion  to  speak  of  e\'olution,  for 
instance,  call  it  growth.  It  amoimts  to  the  same  thing, 
and  nobody  is  afraid  of  that.  Evolution  is  a  ''monster  of 
so  frightful  mien."  in  the  minds  of  some  people,  *'as.  to 
be  hated,  needs  but  to  be''  heard.  But  growth :  that  is  a 
good  old  homely  word  which  they  hear  e\'ery  day.  not 
knowing  that  it  hides  one  of  the  greatest  mysteries  of  life. 
They  take  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  flowers  grow,  and 


148  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

birds,  and  trees,  without  any  disrespect  to  their  Creator, 
or  disregard  of  his  power ;  but  that  the  world  itself  should 
have  grown  seems  to  them  irreverent,  and  irreconcilable 
with  the  dignity  of  God.  Folks  have  such  queer  notions, 
Elisha ;  but  you  will  have  to  respect  them,  and  take  them 
into  account  in  the  presentation  of  your  message,  if  you 
expect  to  get  a  fair  hearing.  If  there  is  prejudice  against  a 
word  in  any  quarter,  avoid  it  religiously,  if  you  would 
have  your  gospel  accepted  in  that  quarter. 

Did  you  ever  stop  to  wonder  why  the  common  people 
heard  Jesus  so  gladly ;  why  it  was  that  they  fell  away  from 
the  synagogue  to  Him,  and  left  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
to  talk  to  empty  benches  ?  It  was  not  because  His  gospel 
was  so  different.  When  you  examine  it,  and  compare  it 
with  that  of  the  old  school,  you  find  that  it  is  not.  You 
can  almost  piece  it  out  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and 
they  were  heard  in  the  synagogue  every  Sabbath.  It  was 
because  His  language  was  so  different.  He  used  the  lan- 
guage of  the  carpenter  shop,  and  not  that  of  the  schools. 
He  spoke  from  life,  and  not  from  books.  He  talked  to 
fishermen  about  casting  nets,  to  shepherds  about  the  keep- 
ing of  sheep,  to  husbandmen  about  the  vine  and  its 
branches,  to  publicans  about  the  farming  out  of  money, 
and  to  all  men  about  a  father  and  his  son.  Each  man 
heard  him  in  his  own  tongue  in  which  he  was  born,  in 
terms  of  his  own  life  and  daily  occupation.  It  must  have 
sounded  wondrously  refreshing  to  ears  long  used  to  the 
cant  and  stereotyped  talk  of  the  Pharisees.  It  was  like 
streams  in  the  desert  to  the  thirsty  traveller.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  Capernaum  and  all  Galilee,  even  Jerusalem 
and  all  Judea,  went  out  to  hear  Him,  until  it  seemed  to  the 
envious  Pharisees  that  the  whole  world  had  gone  after 


DON^S  FOR  PROPHETS  149 

Him  ?     There  is  nothing  which  sounds  so  sweet  in  the  ears 
of  men  as  their  own  native  tongue. 

He  used  the  common  speech  of  men,  but  He  gave  it  a 
new  content  and  an  added  meaning.  The  letter  was  the 
same,  but  the  spirit  was  different  in  many  cases.  He 
breathed  into  it  the  breath  of  hfe,  and  it  became  a  Hving 
soul.  The  words  which  He  spake  unto  them  were  spirit 
and  life.  It  was  no  longer  a  dead  language.  He  set  the 
old  vehicles  of  speech  to  conveying  higher  meanings.  He 
put  heavenly  treasures  in  the  old  earthen  vessels.  He  used 
common  words  in  a  new  figurative  sense  which  His  hear- 
ers did  not  at  first  understand.  He  spoke  to  them  in  meta- 
phor and  simile  and  parable,  turning  their  common  speech 
and  the  common  events  of  their  life  to  new  account.  He 
made  the  vine  and  its  branches  show  the  intimate  relation 
between  Him  and  His  disciples,  and  a  father  and  his  son 
tell  the  whole  story  of  God  and  man.  A  parable  has  been 
happily  defined  as  '*an  earthly  story  with  a  heavenly  mean- 
ing." Men  heard  only  the  earthly  story  at  first.  They 
missed  the  heavenly  meaning.  His  disciples  were  con- 
stantly misunderstanding  Him  at  first,  because  he  used 
words  in  one  sense  and  they  understood  them  in  another. 
But  when  they  did  finally  understand  Him,  and  had  caught 
the  new  meanings,  their  whole  souls  were  flooded  with 
light,  and  unseen  and  eternal  things  were  as  clear  as  day 
to  them.  He  taught  them  to  read  the  heavenly  meanings 
of  earthly  things,  and  the  whole  face  of  the  world  was 
changed  for  them  ever  afterward.  He  opened  windows 
everywhere  out  of  the  common  walks  of  our  life  into  the 
unseen.  The  world  has  not  been  the  same  place  since  He 
lived  here  among  men,  and  talked  to  them  about  the  heav- 
enly meaning  of  earthly  things,  and  it  will  never  be  the 
same  again. 


150  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

XIV 

Don't  set  yourself  up  as  a  dictator  of  belief,  Elisha. 
The  world  likes  the  voice  of  authority,  but  it  does  not  like 
the  superior  air.  It  welcomes  knowledge,  but  it  resents 
'dictation.  Honest  belief  cannot  be  enforced,  and  honest 
belief  is  what  you  are  after.  It  does  not  come  by  fiat.  It 
comes  in  answer  to  things  that  are  worthy  of  belief,  as  the 
eye  came  in  answer  to  light.  If  the  truth  does  not  bring 
it  out,  nothing  else  will.  It  cannot  be  put  on  from  without, 
it  must  be  put  forth  from  within.  It  must  be  as  free  as  a 
bird  in  the  air  to  turn  where  it  will. 

Jesus  did  not  try  to  dictate  belief  in  Himself.  He  knew 
better.  All  sorts  of  rumours  were  afloat  concerning  Him. 
Some  believed  that  He  was  Elijah  come  again,  others  that 
He  was  Jeremiah,  or  some  one  of  the  ancient  prophets,  re- 
turned to  earth,  still  others  that  He  was  ''that  prophet 
which  should  come  into  the  world,"  uncertain  perhaps  as 
to  who  "that  prophet"  was.  Herod  believed  that  He  was 
John  the  Baptist  risen  from  the  dead.  Some  believed  that 
He  was  a  son  of  Satan,  others  that  He  was  the  son  of  God. 
Popular  opinion  ranged  all  the  way  from  the  open  hos- 
tility of  the  Pharisees  to  the  honest  confession  of  Peter. 
He  was  not  indifferent  to  it.  It  made  a  vast  difference  to 
Him  whether  men  believed  or  disbelieved.  He  always 
divided  His  audience  against  itself,  making  friends  of 
some,  and  enemies  of  others.  He  saw  the  one  result  with 
joy,  and  the  other  with  sorrow.  He  rejoiced  over  the 
Roman  centurion,  from  whom  He  had  a  right  to  expect 
so  little,  and  mourned  over  unbeHeving  Jerusalem,  from 
which  He  had  a  right  to  expect  so  much.  The  young  man 
who  went  away  from  Him  with  a  heavy  heart  left  a 
heavier  heart  behind  him.     He  had  in  him  some  of  the 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  151 

makings  of  a  splendid  disciple,  and  he  had  been  so  near  the 
kingdom;  but,  alas,  he  had  not  the  courage  for  it.  He 
lacked  the  one  thing  needful.  The  Master  followed  his 
retreating  figure  with  sorrowful  eyes,  but  He  raised  not  a 
finger  to  stop  him.  He  did  not  want  conscripts  for  His 
kingdom,  He  wanted  volunteers.  He  presented  Himself  to 
men,  in  the  most  winsome  manner  and  with  the  most  per- 
suasive appeal ;  but  He  left  it  to  their  own  hearts  to  decide 
what  they  should  do  with  Him.  He  invited  belief,  but  He 
made  no  attempt  to  coerce  it. 

And  if  He  did  not  try  to  lord  it  over  men's  consciences, 
who  are  we  that  we  should  attempt  it  ?  Don't  presume  to 
do  your  people's  thinking  for  them,  Elisha.  You  are  not 
a  labour-saving  device.  God  evidently  intended  that  they 
should  do  their  own  thinking,  or  He  would  not  have  put 
heads  on  their  shoulders.  He  meant  that  we  should  get 
our  beliefs,  as  we  get  our  bread,  in  the  sweat  of  our  brow. 
Encourage  men  to  think  for  themselves ;  and  respect  their 
thoughts  when  they  think  them,  whether  they  agree  with 
yours  or  not.  You  are  not  a  master,  but  a  messenger ;  not 
a  dictator,  but  a  counselor  of  souls.  Your  business  is  not 
dictation,  but  suggestion.  You  are  not  to  do  men's  think- 
ing, but  to  give  them  material  for  thought ;  not  to  live  in 
their  stead,  but  to  put  them  in  the  way  of  hving  their  own 
lives.  Each  of  us  must  live  his  own  life,  and  think  his 
own  thoughts,  according  to  the  measure  of  his  own  mind. 
You  can  do  your  people  no  greater  harm,  Elisha,  than  to 
step  between  them  and  the  punishment  of  their  own  sins, 
or  try  to  relieve  them  of  the  responsibility  of  their  own 
conduct.  Every  man  must  give  account  of  himself  to 
God,  and  it  is  his  right,  as  well  as  his  duty,  to  live  his  own 
life.    He  alone  will  have  to  answer  for  it. 

There  are  things  which  we  cannot  do  for  one  another. 


152  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

much  as  we  would  like  to.  Some  things  are  not  given  out 
of  hand.  They  are  not  gifts,  but  growths;  not  inheri- 
tances, but  acquirements.  Strength  cannot  be  given,  or 
patience,  or  courage ;  they  must  be  won.  Character  is  not 
bestowed,  it  is  wrought  out.  You  cannot  put  apples  on  a 
tree.  It  must  bear  them.  Our  characters  are  related  to 
us,  not  as  our  clothes  to  our  bodies,  but  as  our  fingers  to 
our  hands.  We  are  the  vine,  and  they  are  the  branches. 
You  can  no  more  bestow  your  thoughts  upon  your  people, 
Elisha,  than  you  can  give  them  the  colour  of  your  eyes  or 
the  kindness  of  your  heart.  Our  beliefs,  if  we  come  by 
them  honestly,  are  the  result  of  mental  processes  extending 
through  days  and  weeks  and  years,  and  others  cannot 
reach  the  result  without  going  over  the  ground  which  leads 
up  to  it.  There  is  but  one  way  to  the  end  of  a  road  from 
the  beginning  of  it,  and  that  is  over  the  road,  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  We  may  travel  on  foot,  or  on  horseback,  or 
in  an  automobile;  but,  whatever  our  method  of  locomo- 
tion, we  must  somehow  go  over  the  ground.  Some  are 
slow  of  thought,  and  reach  conclusions  at  a  snail's  pace, 
while  others  are  of  a  quicker  understanding,  and  arrive  at 
the  end  more  rapidly  from  the  beginning ;  but,  whether  we 
plod  painfully  or  go  with  swift  feet,  we  must  travel  the 
road.    We  must  begin  at  the  beginning,  not  at  the  end. 

And  the  strangest  part  of  it  all,  Elisha,  is  that  we  do 
not  always  arrive  at  the  same  end  from  the  same  begin- 
ning. All  roads  do  not  lead  to  Rome.  It  depends  upon 
which  end  of  the  road  you  take.  The  same  road  that  led 
Newman  to  it,  led  Luther  away  from  it.  They  set  out 
upon  the  same  quest,  but  they  did  not  arrive  at  the  same 
goal.  They  were  both  looking  for  some  rock  upon  which 
to  rest  their  weary  feet,  some  sure  sanctuary  for  their 
human  souls,  and  they  both  found  it ;  but  not  in  the  same 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  15^ 

place.  One  found  it  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  the  other 
in  the  haven  of  his  own  heart;  and  who  shall  say  that  one 
was  not  just  as  sincere  as  the  other?  God  has  His  own 
way  with  each  individual  soul,  and  His  way  with  one  is 
not  His  way  with  another;  and  each  individual  soul  has 
its  own  way  of  approach  to  God,  and  the  way  of  one  is 
not  the  way  of  another.  No  one  has  ever  had  a  more  pro- 
found respect  for  the  privacy  of  the  inner  life  than  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  and  no  one  ever  knew  it  better. 


XV 

Don't  live  to  be  seen  of  men,  Elisha,  or  speak  to  be 
heard  of  them.  You  will  be  seen  of  them,  and  your  life 
should  bear  their  sight;  you  will  be  heard  of  them,  and 
your  words  should  bear  their  hearing.  You  will  live  be- 
fore men,  and  speak  within  hearing  of  them,  but  it  is  not 
they  who  will  sit  in  final  judgment  upon  you.  They  will 
be  your  hearers,  but  they  will  not  be  your  judges.  There- 
by will  hang  one  of  your  chief  difficulties,  and  one  of  your 
subtlest  temptations.  To  be  seen  of  men,  and  yet  not  to 
live  for  their  eyes;  to  be  heard  of  men,  and  yet  not  to 
speak  to  their  ears ;  to  live  out  in  the  open,  and  yet  to  re- 
main unconscious  of  the  eyes  that  are  on  you  there;  to  be 
constantly  in  the  presence  of  men,  and  yet  conscious  only 
of  the  presence  of  God ;  to  be  keenly  conscious  of  the  con- 
tent of  your  consciousness,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  un- 
conscious of  yourself.  You  will  not  find  that  easy,  Elisha; 
and  yet  it  is  necessary  to  the  choicest  character,  and  the 
most  acceptable  service.  Self-consciousness  spoils  every- 
thing. It  makes  children  awkward,  and  women  vain,  and 
men  unbearable.  It  turns  strong  men  into  bullies,  and 
wise  men  into  pedants,  and  good  men  into  Pharisees.    Ait 


164  THE  MANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

ingrowing  consciousness  is  as  painful  as  an  ingrowing 
nail,  and  as  detrimental  to  good  health.  It  is  as  hard  to 
get  away  from  ourselves  almost  as  it  is  to  run  away  from 
our  shadows.  There  is  but  one  city  of  refuge.  We  must 
escape  from  ourselves  into  our  message.  And  we  must 
escape  from  the  presence  of  men  into  the  presence  of  God. 
There  is  no  other  sanctuary. 

It  is  easy  to  put  the  praise  of  men  before  the  praise  of 
God,  and  let  the  noise  of  the  multitude  drown  the  still 
small  voice  in  our  ears.  This  world  is  so  near  and  tan- 
gible, and  that  other  world  so  apparently  remote.  The 
multitude  throngs  the  street,  and  shouts  from  the  house- 
tops. It  presses  upon  us  with  its  approval  or  disapproval. 
It  is  so  tangible  to  the  touch,  and  so  apparent  to  the  eyes, 
and  its  praise  is  so  sweet  to  the  ear.  But  God  is  in  the 
secret  place,  where  there  is  no  speech  nor  language,  and 
where  no  audible  voice  is  heard.  He  does  not  lift  up,  or 
cry  out,  or  cause  His  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street.  We 
have  to  step  aside  from  the  throng,  and  listen  long  and 
patiently  sometimes  to  hear  His  voice.  And  the  praise  of 
men  comes  so  much  more  readily  than  the  praise  of  God. 
Men  look  upon  the  outward  appearance,  and  judge  accord- 
ingly, but  God  looks  upon  the  heart,  and  judges  accord- 
ingly. He  is  not  mocked,  or  deceived  by  a  smooth  ex- 
terior. He  sees  through  it.  And  the  "formation  of  a 
surface''  is  so  much  easier  than  the  formation  of  a  char- 
acter. 

The  praise  of  men  comes  easily,  and  it  also  goes  easily. 
Remember  that,  Elisha.  Come  easy,  go  easy.  That  is  the 
rule.  The  things  that  cost  little  are  worth  little.  The 
mushroom  springs  up  over  night,  and  it  also  disappears 
over  night.  Popular  opinion  is  as  fickle  as  the  wind.  The 
world  runs  after  every  newcomer.    It  forgets  so  soon.    It 


DON'TS  FOR  PROPHETS  155 

must  have  a  new  idol  for  each  new  day.  It  does  not  object 
to  two  idols  in  one  day — one  for  the  morning,  and  another 
for  the  afternoon.  It  is  pleased  with  new  toys,  and  casts 
them  aside  when  the  new  wears  off.  Those  who  have 
lived  for  the  favour  of  men  have  died  of  broken  hearts  and 
disappointed  hopes.  Beware  how  you  build  your  house 
upon  the  sand,  Elisha.  It  will  crumble  away  from  beneath 
your  feet.  The  voice  of  the  people  is  not  always  the  voice 
of  God.  It  was  not  in  Jerusalem  in  the  days  of  Jesus,  nor 
in  Florence  in  the  days  of  Savonarola. 

Don't  expect  pay,  Elisha,  either  from  God  or  man. 
Only  hirelings  work  for  pay.  The  workman  is  worthy  of 
his  hire,  but  no  hireling  is  worthy  of  his  work.  God  is 
not  a  paymaster.  He  rewards  service,  but  He  does  not 
pay  wages.  The  best  work  in  the  world  is  not  done  either 
from  fear  of  punishment  or  hope  of  reward.  It  is 
done  from  sheer  love  of  it.  Those  were  fine  words  which 
Daniel  spoke  to  the  king,  when  he  offered  to  clothe  him 
with  scarlet,  and  hang  a  chain  of  gold  about  his  neck,  and 
make  him  the  third  ruler  in  his  kingdom,  if  he  would  read 
for  him  the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  make  known  the 
interpretation  of  it.  "Let  thy  gifts  be  to  thyself,  and  give 
thy  trinkets  to  another;  yet  I  will  read  the  writing  unto 
the  king,  and  make  known  to  him  the  interpretation." 
That  was  an  answer  worthy  of  a  prophet,  Elisha.  And 
that  is  what  all  of  God's  servants  have  said  to  those  whom 
they  have  served.  They  have  not  cared  for  the  world's 
baubles.    They  have  cared  only  to  serve. 

God  does  not  pay,  and  the  world  cannot.  It  has  nothing 
to  pay  with ;  and  it  would  not  bestow  it  justly,  if  it  had. 
It  does  not  know  how  to  reward  service.  It  is  learning, 
slowly  and  painfully,  but  it  has  not  learned  yet.  Look 
how  it  has  rewarded  those  who  have  served  it — Socrates 


166  THE  IVIANTLE  OF  ELIJAH 

with  hemlock,  and  Huss  with  fagots,  and  Bunyan  with 
imprisonment.  Earth's  greatest  benefactors  have  left  little 
of  this  world's  goods  behind  them.  Jesus  left  only  the 
clothes  on  his  back.  The  world  has  paid  little  for  its 
choicest  possessions,  and  rewarded  but  poorly  its  greatest 
adventures.  Do  you  know  what  it  cost  to  discover  Amer- 
ica, Elisha,  this  big  continent  which  is  housing  perhaps  the 
final  experiment  in  human  government?  About  a  thou- 
sand dollars !  You  cannot  buy  a  good  automobile  f  oi;  that. 
And  what  did  Columbus  get  out  of  it?  Coldness,  and 
neglect,  and  ingratitude.  You  can  get  more  for  a  good 
horse  than  Dante  got  for  The  Divine  Comedy.  That  is 
the  way  reward  goes  in  this  world.  Saul  slays  his  thou- 
sands, and  David  his  tens  of  thousands;  and  yet  Saul 
wears  the  crown,  and  David  plays  the  fiddle.  One  man 
gets  a  mere  pittance  for  Paradise  Lost,  and  another  a 
small  fortune  for  Trilby.  One  man  gives  the  world  a 
great  discovery  in  science  or  religion,  and  dies  in  poverty; 
and  another  invents  a  mousetrap,  and  dies  a  millionaire. 
Such  is  life  in  this  world,  Elisha,  and  such  are  its  rewards. 
You  will  not  get  wages  for  your  work,  Elisha ;  neither 
shall  you  fail  of  your  reward.  Cast  your  bread  confidently 
upon  the  waters.  It  shall  be  gathered  up  after  many  days ; 
if  not  by  your  hand,  then  by  some  other.  The  waves  may 
carry  it  far  and  wide,  and  cast  it  upon  distant  shores ;  but 
not  one  crumb  of  it  shall  be  lost.  God  will  see  to  that. 
Not  a  single  seed  falls  into  the  ground  without  His  notice. 
Jesus  did  not  live  to  reap  the  fniit  of  his  labours,  but 
others  did.  Wherever  Paul  went  in  his  missionary  jour- 
neys, in  almost  every  city  he  entered,  he  found  a  handful 
of  disciples  there  before  him.  How  had  they  come  there? 
No  missionary  had  passed  that  way  before.  No  delega- 
tion had  been  sent  out  from  Jerusalem  or  Antioch.  Some 


DONTS  FOR  PROPHETS  157 

Jewish  pilgrim  had  been  up  to  the  Passover  at  Jerusalem, 
or  a  Roman  centurion  had  been  stationed  there,  or  an 
Arabian  merchant  had  passed  that  way,  and  had  heard  the 
Master  on  the  street  comer,  or  by  the  sea,  and  had  gone 
away  to  tell  the  stor}\  Such  are  the  fortunes  of  harvest 
to  those  who  sow  beside  all  waters. 

Go  your  way,  Elisha,  live  your  life,  and  do  your  dut}'', 
as  God  gives  you  to  see  it,  whether  the  world  praise  or 
blame,  whether  it  put  you  on  a  throne  or  on  a  cross.  The 
world  is  here  to-day,  and  there  to-morrow ;  but  God  is  for- 
ever, and  to  Him  we  give  account. 

The  words  of  Hijah  the  Tishbite  are  ended. 


THE   END 


Date  Due 


Br  8-  -v. 


a**^ 


